Puzzle Pieces (Shadow The Hedgehog Love Story)
by ShadowEpona
Summary: A teenaged hedgehog girl discovers her past while doing top secret mission's on the side; while doing so she quickly discovers the love of her life. OC X Shadow
1. Chapter One

"I need to introduce you to someone after that last mission you accomplished. I am aware of your injury, but this individual and his group are going on your next mission with you. Don't worry it's an easy one. It is a mission that shouldn't be compromised from that injury." Abraham Tower spoke solidly.

"I work alone. You know I'm solo." I sighed, rubbing my shoulder from a bullet wound.

"You have until now. I believe you will be surprised about this team. They are at the top, and I do not believe you have met any of them." He disregarded simply.

I growled under my breath, "Why do I have to be teamed up with some idiots. I've been doing everything perfectly on my own. It's just one damn injury. Nothing will be compromised." I urged.

"My word is final. Don't speak to your superiors like that. Now go train and rest up. You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow." He ordered.

With an insignificant sigh, I walked back to my permanent room in the base. I stretched and tested my shoulder out some, studying when and where I felt the most pain. Finally sitting on my bed, I began reminiscing as to how I got here, and perhaps, I should treat Abraham better.

_ Two years ago:_

_ Opening my eyes I found a group of soldiers huddled around me in close proximity, asking one another questions. Slowly forcing myself into a sitting position, I continued to look at them, completely dumbfound, wondering why there were so many males. I held my head, quickly realizing that they were not friendly. Guns of many varieties were pointed all towards me, their silhouettes shimmering in the sun. _

_ "__Who are you and how did you get in here?__"__ An old man asked calmly. _

_ I looked down thinking. I reached for answers, for memories, nothing but blackness was there._

_ "__Answer.__"__ He pushed, fewer patients than before._

_ "__I__…__ don__'__t know__…__ I don__'__t remember__…"__ I spoke quietly, nervously, and shyly._

_ All the soldiers looked at one another before one from the crowd spoke out, __"__Well what are we to do Boss?__"_

_ "__Hmm__…__ Well we are low on recruits__…"__ The two eye coloured old man spoke. _

_ "__But, Sir, she__'__s a hedgehog.__"__ One of the soldiers pointed out._

_ "__Hedge__…__hog?__"__ I looked at myself studying and comparing the differences between the soldiers and myself. I was a tan hedgehog with red patches on my quills, having a black strong outline encasing the red, and they were all human, mostly consisting of white skinned people._

_ "__We already have recruits like her. I don__'__t see the issue.__"__ He brushed the soldier off and stood in front of me. He crouched down in front of me. __"__So you truly don__'__t remember anything? Not even your name?__"__ He questioned._

_ I closed my eyes thinking once more. __"__No__…__ not really__…__ My name__…__ I think__…__ maybe, it started with__…__ a C sound__…"__ I gripped my head getting a headache, as well as instantaneously being light headed._

_ "__One of you, pick her up and follow me.__"__ He ordered. Many of the soldiers were very hesitant but one of them finally came forward and lifted me into his arms. _

_ I grabbed onto him, nervous of falling. I stared at the __'__boss__'__ as they both walked along into the base that had been approximately fifty yards away. I let my eyes drift closed and fell into deep slumber. _

_ I awoke to being warm and quite comfortable in a bed. Snuggling up more, I studied my surroundings. It was quite homey, except for the thick metal walls. It was quaint, filled with odd knick-knacks, and had no true colour scheme. Each piece of furniture had real wood in it somewhere, with old material over them. I slowly sat up and looked at the entrance, and exit, to the room. Wondering if I should investigate what was beyond the door, it suddenly opened. The old man, a soldier, and a doctor came through the door._

_ "__Well, the results say there isn__'__t anything wrong with her. She doesn__'__t have any injuries__…"__ He mumbled then looked up at me, __"__Oh, she__'__s awake.__"__ The doctor continued._

_ "__Good. We need to give you a name of some sort in stead of something with a __"__C__"__ sound.__"__ The boss of this place looked at me sternly. _

_ I looked down and thought once more, slowly began to grasp what I believed to be my name. __"__I__…__ I think my name is Cathy__…"_

_ "__You think, or do you know.__"__ His voice became sterner._

_ "__K-know__…__?__"__ I tried to hide the hint of a question in my voice, and in my own belief._

_ "__Good. Now to your feet. Since we don__'__t have any files on you, this is now your new home, and where you will now work. You are under my command, unless I say other wise. Understand?__"__ He stated, rather than asked._

_ "__But__…__ I-__"__ I began._

_ "__The decision has been made already. You start tomorrow after a good long rest.__"__ He walked out, both the soldier and doctor following him, a bit hesitant and perhaps a bit stunned._

Present day:

I sighed softly, and hid under my covers. I closed my eyes and began to think; _Whom will I be meeting tomorrow? Whom haven__'__t I met here? On second thought, that__'__s probably a lot of people__…__ Well then, what is this mission, and why do I have to do it with a group if its so __'__easy__'__ that even my injured shoulder wouldn__'__t compromise it__…__ Well whatever, I__'__ll find out tomorrow, all I can do now is rest._ I urged myself to sleep, and after an hour of restless moving in between the polyester material, I slipped into unconsciousness.

I woke up, and slipped out of my bed, fixing it and making it penny bouncing tight. I stretched my injured shoulder out gently, easing it into movement as I made my way to Abraham's office, my boss. _It__'__s kind of hard to believe I still don__'__t remember anything and it__'__s been two years since I__'__ve arrived here._ I knocked on the door and waited for some sort of response.

"Who is it?" Abraham's voice called through the door.

"You know who it is." I folded my arms.

"Come in." He called out. "The team I mentioned to you is in here waiting to see who you are."

I walked in and found myself shocked. There was a hedgehog, a bat, and a robot. I looked at the black and red hedgehog, picking up that he was not happy about this, the white bat seemed uninterested and the red robot was just standing there, obviously with no sense of emotion about him.

"This is Team Dark." Abraham began to introduce, "Team Dark, this is Cathy."

"I'm Rouge the bat. This here is Shadow," She motioned to the black and red hedgehog, "and this here is Omega." She gestured to the robot.

"Whatever. What's this stupid mission we have to do?" I looked at Tower's, clearly unhappy.

"All you have to do is go to this location, steal some information, plant false information, make sure you aren't found out, and make sure your identity isn't breached. Team Dark will back you up and assist with anything. Don't do anything to irritate that shoulder." He did a quick overview.

"Coordinates, dagger, handgun, and what's the info to steal and to plant, and where." I quickly questioned, wanting to get straight to the point.

"Take this device and plug it into the main computer and upload it into the system to plant the false info. Shadow will be taking care of retrieving info. Your target is all the way in Restropolis, their main government facility. Make sure you plant the info into their main computer. As long as no one is breached, it should be a piece of cake for you all. You all leave at twenty two hundred hours. Now go chat, I have other things to do." He went back to the papers that were on his desk as we all left the room.

"I don't care what you guys do, I can do this myself." I began to walk away, Rouge then slipped in front of me.

"Sorry sugar, but we were ordered directly to help you. It is our assignment and we are going to do it." She insisted.

With a slight growl I responded, "Fine, but don't get in my way. I work solo."

"Then don't get in my way either." Shadow spat coldly.

I heard rouge let out a sigh before I spoke, "We all meet back here before we initiate the mission. I'll see you in seven hours." I walked off silently, getting some early preparations completed.

My ear flicked as Team Dark walked though the door. I studied them for a second before standing up right from my leaning position. "Good to go I presume?"

"Humph. Are you ready?" Shadow emotionlessly said.

"Obviously. Let's get this over with then." I sighed and departed with Team Dark. Walking out into the vehicle lot, we headed over to where the aircrafts were and hoped into a helicopter. The helicopter was a tested and proven prototype that was almost dead silent compared to the standard helicopter. I hopped in and watched Team Dark get in.

"IF ONLY THERE WAS MORE DESTRUCTION ON THIS MISSION." Omega stated. It brought out a small smirk on my face.

"Well unfortunately we don't get to blast down walls and empty our magazines of bullets. This is supposed to be a silent mission." I took a good look at Omega, "However, I don't see why you are here. You're a robot, a program. You cannot hide your voice, and you cannot deny your form. How are you supposed to assist when we have to sneak in?"

"I WILL BE ON A ROOF IN THE DISTANCE READY TO ASSIST WITH ANY FIRE POWER IF NEEDED." He stated.

With a sigh, I just looked at him, "Well if we _do _need the fire power than we would have failed our mission."

"That is not an option." Shadow stated, looking out of the helicopter.

"Also, I don't know if you are aware of this, but Restropolis is human territory. So do either of you have a good disguise?" I looked at Rouge, then to Shadow.

"Do you?" Shadow spat back at me.

"Yes." I snapped my fingers and turned human who had short brown hair with side bangs and pale skin as well as hazel-green eyes. "I can make the both of you human as well if need be."

Shadow just glared at me before continuing looking out at the vast land and sky: Rouge then spoke up, "Well… we could find another way in. It will be late evening so we could sneak in though the air vents and work our way to the main computer room." Rouge suggested.

"I suppose we could…" I thought for a second and gave a swift nod. "Yeah I'm good with that." I glanced over to the one who was flying, "How much longer until we are at our destination."

"About five minutes." He grumbled.

I changed back into my hedgehog form and looked upon the world. There was a lot of green in this area, and many thick woods; _Restropolis__…_, I muttered gently in my mind. I glimpsed over to Shadow then studied the helicopter for a few moments. I laid back and closed my eyes, listening to the drum of the blades overhead, taking in the cool wind that whisked away the sweat, and just took a moment to relax.

My ears perked up, _Shit! _In a matter of seconds, we were hit with a RPG. The helicopter spun quickly before it smashed into the ground. Everything went black for a bit until I regained my senses. Pain split up from my leg, the helicopter was torn apart and on fire off in the distance. Glimpsing down at my leg I noticed I had a compound fracture. Blood quickly escaped my body; the blood from my face drained and I felt sick to my stomach as I looked away. I focused on trying to keep my breathing steady and controlled.

I felt a hand push at my neck causing my body to jerk instantly away. I then felt the hands grab my leg and force my bone back into place causing a small scream out of me. I looked up; vision blurred, the pain pounding with every heartbeat, and watched Shadow quickly fix me up. I studied him as best as I could, my vision going in and out of focus. He had some cuts, but he was fine.

"You're going to be okay. You might have a concussion. The pilot is dead. We need to move, **now**." I then felt myself lift up; a sharp coolness came over the side of my head. _Blood_.

I looked at the one who lifted me; Omega stood proudly, virtually unscathed from what had just happened. "I WILL CARRY HER TO SAFETY, SHADOW." Shadow gave a nod and looked at Rouge. I tried to study her too. Her arm had a good gash in it with blood running down along her arm until it dripped into the now stained ground. She had a few other cuts and bumps but overall was fine.

I heard gunshots come from all around us, as they seemed to echo through the air. I vaguely felt Omega carry me; however, my vision was beginning to lose any focus it had. My vision began to turn black; attempting to focus on my wounded leg and the blood soaked bandage, I heard Omega call out to Shadow and Rouge. I finally slipped away into darkness.

"Cathy. Wake up." I heard Rouge's voice call out.

"Mmph…" I unwillingly opened my eyes and looked around. It was very dark; Rouge's face blocked my view of pretty much anything else. "Rouge… What happened…? Where are we…?"

"We are hiding out in a basement of an abandoned shack. The enemy has us surrounded." She explained quickly.

I tried to sit up, but got extremely dizzy and settled myself down. My body was sore; I noticed my fangs were showing. _I need to feed._

"I don't know how much longer the door will hold. We need to get out of here." Shadow spoke sternly.

"I need some blood… To drink…" I began to try to sit up again, this time Rouge assisted me and I was able to steady myself.

"To drink? You mean you're…?" Rouge looked at my fangs.

"Yeah… I am… It will heal me, and I'll regain my strength." I looked at Shadow.

"And what will you do once you're healed up." Shadow asked me sternly.

"I'll kill them all, and we can get on with our purpose for being here." I placed my hand down on the cool surface realizing I was much warmer than usual.

"There will be no killing!" He growled; the basement door rattled and cracked as someone attempted to open it.

"We don't have much time, we either use Chaos Control or we kill them!" I tried to speak quickly, just as I finished my sentence a gun shot cried out, my ears rang. The door was breached. Shadow swiftly darted towards us crying out "Chaos Control!" bringing us to safety.

I looked around before falling back and looking into the deep blue sky that had no clouds to be seen. The field we were in had very tall thin grass that had a mixture of a very light brown and the classic grass green. The brightness of the day was quickly shaded by Shadow.

"How can you even suggest killing people?!" He growled.

"What do you mean? They shot at us first, they wanted us dead, and they killed the pilot. In this world, with what we do, its **kill **or _be _**killed**. Don't you understand that? They aren't even innocent civilians. We had the clear to kill them. They probably deser-" I was cut off quickly as Shadow's fist met with my jaw. He then grabbed my shirt and pulled me up closer to him, hate and disgust filled his eyes.

"There is _**always**_ another way! So don't you _**dare**_ feed that shit to me! You disgust me!" He growled. I moved my jaw cautiously; _It__'__s just gonna be really sore. It__'__s not broken._ I spit up blood.

"Shadow…" Rouge said softly. He glimpsed over to her then looked at me. He slowly dropped me to the ground and walked away, off into the trees to cool down. I sighed softly and closed my eyes.

"We are going back to finish this mission. She can bleed out and die here." He started heading in the direction of the target.

"We are not leaving her Shadow." Rouge called out.

"Whatever. I'm not carrying her, or dealing with her. Do what you want." He growled lowly.

"I WILL CARRY HER." Omega spoke as he began to pick me up. I grunted lightly.

I looked at my wound. The cloth was soaked, the movement only making the bleeding worse. I closed my eyes, wondering what I could contribute to the mission now.

I started feeling extremely weak and faint, my breath getting raspy. "SHE IS LOOSING TOO MUCH BLOOD." Omega sounded distant. I saw a blurry black head form over my plane of sight.

"Hey can you hear me girl?" Shadow asked his voice remaining monotone.

"You… sound so far away…" I muttered softly and closed my eyes. "I'm so… tired…"

"Keep your eyes open. Stay awake." I felt him tap my face and have me look at him. I opened my eyes trying to make sense of the images. I felt my eyes get heavier; the burning in my throat only aspiring into the only thing the last ounce of pure consciousness I could comprehend.


	2. Chapter Two

I came to full consciousness finding my fangs burrowed deep into Shadow's neck. He was not lively, but he was still conscious. I tasted his sweet blood and took in his scent. I gripped my hands onto whatever they were holding and I felt him move. This is when I realized my wings were out holding his shoulders against a tree. Both Shadow and I were in sitting like positions.

"Don't shoot her Omega… I'll be fine." He spoke softly. "She's just running on a baser instinct."

I was unable to help myself as I took another mouthful of his blood and swallowed; it was the best thing I tasted. I forced myself to pull my fangs out of his neck. I licked the wound sealing it shut, lapping up any blood left behind. I pulled back and fully sat on the uneven damp ground. I looked at what I was holding onto, Shadow's forearms. I gently let go of them and glanced at him before looking away.

He looked at me for a moment then pulled himself up using the tree to steady himself. "Shadow, take it easy." Rouge went to his side wishing to help him.

"I'm fine… Let's move out." He began walking. I looked up at him, seeing his face was quite pale.

"SHADOW, YOU ARE IN NEED OF BLOOD." Omega called out to him while following not far behind.

I looked down at my leg and examined it. The wound was now nonexistent. I examined the rest of my body concluding that everything was in peak condition. _His blood is incredible__…_ I peered up and slowly got to my feet.

"I'm fine Omega… Aren't you coming girl, or did you take my blood for nothing?" He spat coldly at me.

"S-sorry…" I looked down and followed them, trailing along behind them. "I didn't mean to…"

"Humph." He grunted and continued to walk. I noticed that by the way he was moving his condition was horrible. Moments after he nearly collapsed.

I slipped next to him quickly and helped him walk. "I don't need your help pathetic girl!"

"Shadow stop it… just save your energy…" I hid behind my quills, my eyes burning, tears threatening to run down my face. "Please…" I added very quietly. He must have noticed, he never fought or said anything since.

Once we were in close proximity to our mission, I looked up wondering where Omega and Shadow could hide. "Shadow, you should stay with Omega and assist Rouge and I from afar."

"No. I was told to retrieve information from their database, and that is what I am going to do." He urged and pulled himself away, standing on his own.

"Shadow, you're not in the proper condition, what if you put our mission in jeopardy." I tried to reason.

"**You** already put this mission in jeopardy. Perhaps you should stay behind and let Omega do everything you were supposed to accomplish." He growled back.

I glared, "You are really starting to piss me off Shadow The Hedgehog. Maybe I should have su-…" I cut my sentence short and covered my mouth breathing deeply through my nose.

"Pathetic." He huffed. I sighed trying to let it go.

"Can we _not_ kill one another until the mission is completed?" Rouge nitpicked.

"Humph." Shadow and I grunted in unison causing us to shoot unimpressed looks at one another. I then peered over to Rouge to try to break the mutual dislike between Shadow and I at this moment.

With a small sigh, I muttered, "Let's just get this over with then."

Omega used his jet pack extension to slip up to the roof of a tall building while activating his invisibility cloak allowing complete virtual invisibility.

I looked over to Shadow and Rouge, then to our targeted building. They gave me a swift nod when Omega was ready and we approached the building while cautiously avoiding and looking out for cameras. We quickly made our way to the top of the building; we slipped into the air vents undetected. I looked around and got a sense of the air vents, and then I pulled out an electronic map in which it would lead us to our proper destination.

Glimpsing at Shadow to see if he was ready for a moment, I then peered back at the map and leaded the way through the vents until the main computer room lay right below us. Carefully cutting through the metal with a small G.U.N. made gadget that was quite similar to a Bharat metal cutting gas. I made sure to keep enough of the metal attached that I could easily bend it without the metal square breaking and falling to the ground, inevitably giving away our position, and our overall presence in the building. Slipping my head through the hole that was just big enough to peek though, I noticed two individuals in the room. They were armed. I signalled Rouge and Shadow to notify them, I also told them to stay put. Shadow's facial expression clearly gave away that he was not pleased with this but he did not reject what I was planning.

I used my powers to enable invisibility and slipped down quietly to the floor. Approaching the individuals, both happening to be male, I knocked both out simultaneously allowing clearance for Rouge and Shadow. Rouge gently lowered Shadow down to the floor using her wings. Shadow and I quickly began to work. Within a few minutes, we had accomplished our goal, our mission. An alarm rang loudly a few moments later, I growled and looked over to Shadow.

"What the hell did you do?!" I snarled.

"What did I do?! What did you do!?" He fought back.

"Now is not the time for this, we need to get out of here!" Rouge pushed us to the ventilation shaft above us. I looked up and saw the hole I made that allowed us to get down to the ground.

I quickly looked behind us, security quickly coming through the doors. They had armed guns, and determination; _this mission is definitely failed. Abraham is __**not**__ going to be happy about this._

"Surrender now or we will fire." The representatives from the security called out.

"Go on you two, I'll handle them." Shadow pushed us back.

"Oh no you don't!" I grabbed him and pulled him into Rouge. I focused and induced Chaos Control on them specifically, sending them to Omega. As quickly as I did so, the representative opened fire, taking out my right knee. I fell into a crouching-sitting position.

"Should we capture her and detain her, interrogate her?" One of the younger men underneath the representative called out. The representative gave a swift nod.

_ Don__'__t you dare!_ I growled internally and forced my body to stand. Next thing I knew I felt something wrap from behind me, encasing my body, and electrifying shock of electricity ran through me, at first I thought it was just shock, but I quickly realized it was an electrified net. I lost control over my body due to the shocks and felt my body spasm uncontrollably on the floor violently. It seemed to last for several minutes, completely draining my energy. After a few moments of relief, I realized I was being mounted and pinned. Struggling to get free I felt more hands hold pin me; sharp pain followed by a jolt of worry over came me, realizing there was a needle in my neck. I was unable to perceive anything after that.

I awoke, the lighting was dull, and the room remained dark everywhere except for where I remained. I looked around, feeling something around my mouth; a cloth was tied tightly around my head disabling speech. I sat on an uncomfortable chair; bindings were on my feet, arms, wrists, and torso, hands clasped behind me on the back of the chair.

"She's awake. Shall we let her speak?" One man, his face and torso shadowed.

"Yes." A woman spoke, her tone critical. I quickly concluded she must be in charge.

The man stepped forward into the light; however, he had a black mask over his face disabling me to apprehend any features. However, his voice was all I needed to remember. He removed the cloth and stepped back. I kept quiet and stared hard into the darkness. _Where am I and what do they want__…__ Who are they?_

"Now, tell me, what were you and your little friends doing in the main computer room, what exactly you did, who ordered it and why." The female spoke out calmly.

"I will not say anything either than this; no matter what, you will never get any information out of me." I shuffled as best as I could in my seat.

"Well then, boys, let's say we have a little fun. We could beat it out of her, or do something much… worse." She coldly stated, almost relishing in the idea. The men laughed, clearly enjoying the idea of breaking me down into spilling the beans; or perhaps they were also relishing in just simple violence or maybe something even worse.

"Let me have the first go at her. I haven't been able to do this sort of thing in awhile." A ragged voice called out from behind me. He stepped towards me and soon placed himself directly in front of me.

He grabbed onto my shirt, and just as I was expecting to be punched, something much different happened. My shirt was ripped off my torso exposing my bra. He giggled like a schoolgirl and whipped out his knife, cutting my bra right in the middle allowing it to fall to each side gently, completely exposing me.

I simply glared up at the man and slowly smiled, maniacal laughter began shaking my body until I was unable to help but laugh full fledged. Darkness enveloped me in an aura signifying my first dark form transformation. Looking up at the man once more, I stared into his soulless eyes and smiled thinking:_ you__'__re going to die first. _

His body language told me of his confusion, and that is when I decide to take matters into my own hands. I burst the rope into flames and quickly manoeuvred out of the chair, lunging at my prey. Once his warm body was pinned to the cool floor I bit into his neck ripping out his throat. Blood sprayed all over my face and body, drenching my body and clothes in crimson. Gunfire let lose, the sound ringing in the small room, my ears desensitizing.

I pulled up a barrier, the bullets deflected off it causing rickashay. One of the men yelped as his leg was hit with a metal fragment. I focused and gathered all my energy into me and let it loose; Chaos Blast enveloped the area weakening the building's structure as well as eliminating any life within a five-mile radius.

Once the blast dissipated, I heard the building creek with weakness. A few moments later, it collapsed on top of me. I grunted, having difficulty breathing as well as feeling some sharp pain from the materials above me slowly crushing me. I took as deep of a breath as I could and focused. Using my mental strength, I summoned psychokinetic powers to lift the debris off my body allowing my escape. Crawling out, I soon found firm footing and worked my way down to the ground. I slowly began to walk, returning to my normal state of being feeling completely drained and devoid of all energy.

I did not pay much attention to my surroundings as I walked. There were what seemed to be some abandoned buildings, and there were trees in the area, either than that, nothing was memorable. I stumbled along in my existence for what seemed like half an hour to an hour before I faintly heard someone call out to me.

"Girl… Is that you?" I thought of Shadow for a split moment, the memory of it becoming very vague. "Hey!" I felt someone grab onto me, I quickly realized someone was in front of me having me peer at their face. "What happened to you?!"

"Shadow…" I muttered, the realization of his presence perceived me. I fell into his arms tiredly, ready to pass out. "I wanna sleep… I'm… so… tired…" I muttered almost childishly, feeling more drained than I previously had felt. I gently let my eye lids close; instantaneously I slipped into unconsciousness.


	3. Chapter Three

I woke to bright lights fastened in the ceiling. "You're awake." I heard Shadow say softly. I slowly sat up and looked at myself. The blood that was once on me was gone, and my clothes were changed.

"Mph…" I curled up still feeling tired. Moments later I yawned softly.

"Are you alright? What did they do to you." He asked softly.

"The leader said to beat me or do something worse until I spoke. One of the men thought it would be awesome to try and rape me ssoooo I killed them all." I smiled to myself. He growled and got up. With his fists clenched he began walking away; with my ears lowered I mumbled, "Sorry… I shouldn't have told you." He grunted, clearly unhappy. I got up and went over to him, grabbing his arm gently to keep him from walking any farther.

"Don't touch me." His voice was dark and cold, completely uncaring and spiteful. I slowly let him go and looked at his face; I was unable to think of anything to say and had no true knowledge of what to do. "I thought you were hurt, I thought something bad did happen to you…" He shook his head before speaking once more, "You absolutely disgust me. Stay away from me. I never want to see you again."

"Shadow I- ungh…!" I felt a sharp pain split through my head; consequently I gripped it tightly becoming unfocused of my surroundings, and of where or what I was doing. I found myself lost, floating around images, words coming at me from all angles suddenly; I was unable to make any sense of it all.

Images of humans, Shadow and the others, along with other unknowns filled my mind. _Memories__…__?_ Was all I could conduct with the chaos streaming behind my eyes. I attempted to understand, I pushed myself to comprehend what all of it meant, but I was unable to take it all in.

After some amount of time, I came back to reality, the hectic mind games ceasing. "Hey. Cathy can you hear me?" One of the doctors that was quite familiar with me was crouched down beside me.

I looked at him and slowly nodded. I glimpsed around and realized I was still in the same room as before. Abraham was watching the incident. "What's going on…" I spoke softly.

"We are wondering the same thing." The doctor spoke, then glimpsed back over his shoulder at Abraham before returning his gaze to me.

"Did you remember something?" Abraham asked without emotion, or tone in his voice.

I shrugged and looked around a little bit. I realized I was curled up against a corner in the wall. I slowly pulled myself up off the ground; walking to the door I muttered, "I'm going out for some air…"

I Chaos Controlled on to the roof of the G.U.N base and slipped into another ball. Keeping my knees tucked in, I began thinking of the images and words that had invaded my mind. _So I was on__…__ Earth? Was it__…__ And I loved Shadow The Hedgehog__…__ Come to think of it, those emotions for him have arisen from deep within me__…__ So I suppose I still love him. But he hates me__…_ I felt tears threaten to show themselves._ What__'__s wrong with me__…__? I should stop thinking about that for now. Earth, I was born human so how did I end up here, how did I end up a hedgehog? Why? How can this make any sense? What about that weird place in space__…__ ARK? I think that__'__s the word that was associated with it. I was a hedgehog on there too. I remember scientists and I remember this blond girl__…__ and I think Shadow was there too. Everything is so fuzzy__…_ I groaned softly._ Should I speak of this__…__? No not yet. I should find out more first. Perhaps I could pull out Shadow__'__s file and see if I can draw any conclusions from it__…__ I can__'__t believe I was so stupid to make him hate me__…_I felt something hot running down my face. I gently touched my finger to it and looked at it. _Water__…__ I__'__m crying__…_

"I thought I told you to not show yourself around me." I heard a dark voice say.

_ Shadow__…_ I clenched my fists feeling the tears getting heavier. I shook my head and burrowed it into my knees, hoping for cover from my quills. "I didn't know you were up here…" I muttered, trying to keep my voice under control.

"Humph…" He grunted. I hugged my body closer, I felt vulnerable, I also hoped he wouldn't hurt me. After a moment of silence he questioned, "Why are you crying?"

I moved uncomfortably, "Who said I was crying?"

"Why can't you just answer the damn question?" He growled.

I just shook my head a little, beginning to feel tired again. "I don't wanna talk about it… I don't fully understand it."

"Are you feeling guilty?" Snide was evident in his voice.

"No… This is something entirely different…" I spoke softly, really not wanting to speak anymore. "If you hate me why are you talking to me now?" I muttered a little trying to change the subject, or perhaps even to shoo him away.

"The boss insists we still work together, and he insists that we take care of one another." He sighed.

"And I suppose he is going to give you something good for it?" I muttered.

"Humph… Either way, we are essentially "resetting" whatever this is back to how it originally was. Two strangers who neither like nor hate one another." I felt his glance dig into my very being. We sat there in silence for a bit until he sighed. "I'm… Shadow The Hedgehog, the Ultimate Life Form… Who are you…?" He tried to force it out with normal tones, but I could tell he hated this.

"… You can call me Cathy…" I muttered, feeling ridiculous as a faint uncomfortable smile formed. We sat there in silence, neither of us knowing what to say, or do. I slowly began to think of the memories that flashed through my head. "Hey… Shadow… What's ARK…"

He gave me a stern look, "How do you know about ARK?" He growled lowly.

"When you were with me earlier, I sorta… lost awareness? I guess." I did not know how to explain what happened when I was not watching myself. He nodded swiftly. "Well… Um, don't tell Abraham this, or anyone else for that matter, but I think I began to remember things… I haven't been able to remember anything since I woke on this planet, and, well… I remember weird things, and I don't know how to make sense of it, or what's going on, but there was something about ARK. I know you were there since I remember you being involved with it, I just… I don't know…" I looked away feeling stupid, childish.

"Humph." He folded his arms. I slowly laid down and sighed, covering my eyes to try and hide any signs that I was previously crying. I realized at this time that it was dusk.

"That symbol…" He muttered sternly.

"Hm…?" I sat up and looked at my body. To the right of my left hip bone a tattoo was boldly coloured with crimson red and shaded with black. "Oh that… What about it? It's been there since I got here…" I winced and gripped my head seeing flashes of memory involving the tattoo. It was then that I realized it was Shadow's symbol, or rather the Black Arms symbol. I only got it to represent Shadow though.

"What are you remembering?" His voice snapped me back to reality.

"Huh…? Oh… I…" I felt my face burn, realizing I was blushing.

"Are you blushing? Or are you ill?" He felt my forehead.

"I'm not ill or blushing." I pulled away before speaking once more, "I got the tattoo knowing well of what it was. I rather not talk about it."

"Humph." He grunted and looked at where the sun had set. Silence ensued the both of us, however the surrounding area had some noise. Some metal clanking sounds, a few whispers of soldiers, and some day birds chirping away before they settle in for the night. I just simply laid back once more, my hands behind my head and watched the sky, waiting for the stars to begin to show.

I noticed Shadow glimpse at me from the corner of my eye before he looked up to see what I was looking at. "I like the stars… They're amazing… I want to see as many as possible one day, and I want to see what planets look like from space. I also want to explore space as well as other planets too I suppose… I doubt that will happen though."

He remained silent for a little bit, "So you want to see lots of stars and planets huh…?" He muttered quietly.

"Yeah…" I sighed out softly.

He sat up and looked to the roof of the G.U.N. base we were sitting on; he appeared to be thinking. "You said you remembered something about ARK correct?"

"Yes… Why?" I sat up some, curious as to what was going through his head.

"Well… You can see Earth from there as well as lots of stars… As long as you don't wander away from me, I'll take you there, but only this one time…" He seemed unsure of this idea.

"Okay. I won't wander away. I'd probably get lost without you anyways." I looked at his face, trying to gather more information from his body language.

He grabbed onto my arm then said, "Chaos Control!"

I looked around and realized we were somewhere far from G.U.N. We were on ARK, and there was a large window with the view of Earth right in front of us. "Oh wow…" I muttered seeing Earth glow, "It's so pretty…" I walked towards the window to get a bigger better view. I soon looked around to view any stars or other planets, or even the moon from this view. "This is incredible!" My tail wagged happily, "Are there more views like this on here?" I questioned, then looked at Shadow. He stood next to me looking out the window seemingly melancholy.

"Yeah, but this one is the biggest, and the most incredible." He faced away from me so I couldn't see his face, but he continued to look out the window.

"Are you okay…?" I asked gently, I then suddenly felt another sharp pain in my head. I gripped it grunting a little bit. Memories of this place infested my mind. For a moment I broke away from it all, feeling myself drop to the floor, but the memories quickly grasped me once more. The scientists, Professor Gerald Robotnik, Maria, Shadow, and G.U.N., all of it was returning.

_ I opened my eyes, green liquid was all I could make out at first aside form the little air bubbles. My vision became clearer and I was able to see past the liquid and through some glass. A man in a white lab coat was standing not too far form me, he appeared to be working. I watched him quietly, not fully understanding what was going on. My mind felt empty, blank, I had no memory, I had no idea where I was, how I got there, who I was, or what my purpose was. I noticed the man look up at me and he smiled gently._

_ "__You__'__re awake and I just created you. I__'__m Professor Gerald Robotnik, your creator. You are aboard a space colony called ARK.__"__ He explained before doing a few more unknown things._

_ "__ARK__…"__ I spoke softly. __"__Who__…__ am I?__"_

_ He seemed to stop and think for a moment, __"__You shall be known as Catherine, or Cathy for short.__"_

_ "__Cathy__…__ Okay__…"__ I closed my eyes, feeling everything slip away into darkness._

_ I slowly opened my eyes realizing that I has passed out. I began questioning how long I had been resting for. I noticed the same man from before working on me, _Professor Gerald…_ I recalled. __"__Professor__…__ Gerald__…"__ I spoke softly and a little slowly, feeling groggy._

_ He peered up into my eyes, __"__Ah so you are awake once more. I worried something was wrong, you were out for a few days. How are you feeling?__"_

_ I thought for a moment and just slowly shrugged. I slowly put my hand on the glass and looked around inside of it a little. It was a vat that I was held in. __"__Why am I in here__…__ and why are you out there?__"_

_ "__You were created in there, and it is a stable environment for you. Unfortunately, I don__'__t believe you are ready to come out from there yet. I am out here because I am used to this environment, and I am also the one who needs to work from here in order to keep you stable and finish you.__"__ He tried to explain._

_ "__So I will be able to go out there one day__…__?__"__ I questioned._

_ "__Yes. Perhaps soon.__"__ He resumed his work, and I simply watched until I felt tired; that__'__s when I went to sleep._

_ I woke up and looked around. No one was in the room this time, however moments later, the Professor walked in. __"__Professor__…"__ I mumbled._

_ "__Hello. How are you feeling today?__"__ He examined me._

_ "__I feel fine__…__ Is today the day I can finally come out?__"__ I asked, a little excited._

_ "__I__'__m not sure. Let me run a few tests and then we will see if you are ready.__"__ He began working. I waited patiently for fifteen minutes. __"__Everything seems to be normal and stable. I__'__ll let you out, but please don__'__t push yourself.__"_

_ He went to a control panel and pushed some buttons as well as typing some stuff. Next thing I knew the green liquid drained from the vat. Once the vat was empty I heard a click and the tube lifted so I was able to get out. I sat on the bottom part of the vat and then slipped out to the floor. I stumbled a little, trying to walk, and was quickly held by Gerald. I felt heavier, and found breathing a little more difficult at first, however I felt as if I was beginning to adjust to the way things are out of the green liquid._

_ "__How are you feeling?__"__ He questioned, somewhat concerned._

_ "__This feels weird__…__ I feel heavier__…__ At first it seemed harder to breathe__…"__ I muttered and grasped onto his lab coat. _

_ "__Okay. Do you feel well enough to walk around on your own?__"_

_ I nodded gently to his question. __"__I think I can do it.__"__ I let go of his white lab coat and stood on my own. I walked around a little, getting better at it with every step I took. _

_ "__Very good. Are you feeling okay?__"__ He asked, writing some things down. I nodded before he spoke again, __"__Good, good. Now, I was wondering if you were well enough, if you wanted to try out your powers.__"_

_ "__My powers__…__?__"__ I questioned curiously._

_ "__You have many powers. Anything you can think of or imagine doing you are capable of it. You are the most powerful thing in the world, perhaps even the universe.__"__ He crouched down in front of me so he was more at my height level. __"__Just promise you will always use it for good.__"_

_ "__I promise__…__ Daddy__…"__ My tail flicked slightly and I hugged him gently. I felt him pet my head._

_ "__Now go on and test out your powers.__"__ He urged me._

_ With a swift nod I focused my will and I concentrated on making a spear of pure Chaos Energy. I soon had a Chaos Spear made; I grasped it firmly and made a target that would be able to take a large amount of damage and I threw the spear at it. The target took the hit well. I then made little balls of fire appear over the palms of my hand and then I shot them at the target causing it to catch fire. Once it was lit I drew the water from the air and doused the flame in water. After all this I began to feel really tired and light headed._

_ "__Are you alright?__"__ The professor asked concerned._

_ "__I__…__ I don__'__t know__…"__ I muttered feeling my energy drain. I soon felt myself collapse and was quickly overcome by darkness._

_ I gently woke up to the hum of machinery. I curled myself into a ball and peeked open an eye. I was back in my vat surrounded by the breathable green liquid. I looked at myself and realized something odd. There were golden rings around my wrists and ankles._

_ "__They are inhibitor rings.__"__ I heard the professor speak calmly._

_ "__Inhibitor__…__ rings__…__?__"__ I groggily questioned then yawned._

_ "__Yes. They are to help control your energy levels so you can use your powers for longer, as well as keeping your energy levels higher for longer.__"__ He briefly explained._

_ "__So I can use my powers more and not get so tired?__"__ I questioned._

_ "__Precisely.__"__ He stated then let me out of the vat._

_ I slipped out and found myself more tolerable of the environment outside of my vat. __"__How much longer do I have to stay in there?__"_

_ "__Perhaps one more day? Maybe two? I have a room prepared for you once you are ready to be out all the time. Would you like to see your room, as well as explore ARK?__"__ He finished his work up._

_ "__Okay.__"__ I grabbed onto the bottom of his white lab coat tightly and followed him around as he showed me where certain rooms are and where my bedroom was. _

_ I tried to take it all in but I had a hard time recalling which way was which; all the hallways and rooms looked the same to me. Once we were in my room I studied the bed and the little room in there known as a walk-in closet. There were many different varieties of clothes and styles in the closet. _

_ "__Do you like it?__"__ The professor asked._

_ I nodded, __"__Could use a change of colour though I guess. It__'__s really nice. I like it.__"__ I sat on the bed. __"__This is really comfy.__"__ I chirped happily. _

_ He smiled, __"__That__'__s good. I also have something to tell you about. However, you__'__re going to need to keep it very secret okay.__"_

_ "__Okay!__"__ I chirped once more. I followed the Professor to a hidden room far away from where the other scientists would go. I had lost track of where we went and how to get back. We were soon in a vacant room with another vat just like mine being prepared. I felt a dark ominous feeling come from an alien that floated in the middle of the room._

_ "__Black Doom, I see you__'__ve been preparing without me.__"__ The professor looked to me then to the alien. __"__Cathy this is Black Doom. He will be staying with us for awhile. He is helping me with another one of my experiments.__"__ I gripped onto the professor tightly afraid of the dark alien._

_ Black Doom__'__s eyes stared into mine. I slowly sipped back in behind the professor for protection and comfort. __"__It__'__s okay.__"__ He pet my head softly. _

_ "__I__'__ll be setting up my room.__"__ Black Doom left the room and disappeared down the hallway._

_ I relaxed a little and looked up at the Professor. __"__He__'__s bad__…"__ I spoke softly._

_ "__It__'__s okay__…__ Just don__'__t involve yourself much with him. What I really wanted to show you is this room and vat. He and I are creating another hedgehog, like you in a way. His name is Shadow, standing for Special Hyper Advanced Dimensional Organic Weapon. Project S.H.A.D.O.W., he will be the ultimate life form, and he will also be a cure to my granddaughter__'__s disease. Maria has what we call NIDS, Neuro-Immune Deficiency Syndrome.__"_

_ "__Okay__…"__ I spoke softly, listening._

_ "__Anyways, I want you to be his friend okay? So when he is created please try to get along. Try to think of him like a little brother, even though you technically aren__'__t related.__"__ He asked of me gently. I gave a simple nod. __"__Now let__'__s get you back to your own vat and get you some rest.__"_

_ "__Okay.__"__ I followed the Professor__'__s lead as we went back to my vat in which I was forged in. Once we were there he let me in and I went into a deep peaceful slumber._

_ The next morning I awoke to an empty room. I gently put my hand on the glass wondering if it was okay to come out. I sat there in silence for hours until the door slowly opened, only I was not greeted by the professor, instead it was Black Doom. A chill ran down my spine and I curled up into a ball as he approached. He used the controls to let me out, however I stayed put feeling increasingly unsafe with every second that passed._

_ "__What do you want__…__?__"__ I slowly asked, hoping to not offend._

_ "__You off of ARK.__"__ He grabbed me and pulled me along. I tried to pull away, I struggled and pulled at his hand but I was unable to avail myself and remained trapped in his grasp. I felt his grip tighten and pain sparked through me; wincing I tried to find a more comfortable position for my arm. _

_ "__Let me go!__"__ I cried out, complete terror saturated my voice. _

_ "__Shut up or I__'__ll kill you.__"__ He growled lowly, soon entering an area with escape pods._

_ He threw me into an escape pod and quickly shut me in. I curled up and watched him as he slipped over to the main control panel and then pulled a leaver. I felt the pod drop and I quickly found myself in space, off of ARK. My gut crunched up knowing that this was a horrible situation to be in. I burrowed my face into my knees and let tears flow out. _What am I going to do…? What's going to happen to me…?_ I floated gently in space, wondering if I would end up crashing into anything eventually, or if I would forever float in nothingness for all eternity. _

_ My ear flicked as I heard a strange noise, as well as feeling some heat. I looked up and saw the entire pod encased in fire. I felt everything get heavier and gain speed that__'__s when I realized what was going on; I was going through some sort of atmosphere and I was going to crash into a planet. _I'm going to die…I don't want to die._ I curled up and braced myself for impact, assuming the pod and I would survive the fiery fall. All too soon I experienced the impact; it was loud, it was brutal on my physical body, and I could barely breathe. A few seconds later the pod popped open. _

_ I looked up, a bright white-yellow thing harshly shone, I quickly realized it was the sun. I looked away from it and slowly sat up catching my breath. The air was fresh, and it smelled like flowers, dirt, and grass. I slowly crawled up and out of the crater the impact of the pod had formed. I realized that I had already drawn a lot of attention to myself for there was a wolf sniffing about not too far from where I landed. I was suspicious, and surprised that it had not run away from such an unknown loud phenomenon. I crawled a little closer to it, feeling how weak and sore my body was I decided to lay there and watch it. It perked up and stared at me, its ears in an alert state, its head lowered. It quickly made its way over to me, its head remaining low, its body remaining still while its legs did all the work. Once it was close enough, it sniffed me and nudged me, calculating how alive I was. I pulled away and sat up. I watched its ears fold back and moments later it attacked me, biting my neck; I cried out in pain and I tried to grab its head and get it off. _

_ I then witness the wolf get tackled off me by a human. He quickly snapped one of the wolf__'__s legs putting it out of commission, however, I was not in the safe zone yet. The human had fangs, nothing like I have ever observed before. I backed away, unsure of what was going on, but just like before with the wolf, the human pinned me down and bit into my neck. I whimpered and shut my eyes tightly. My veins began burning and with each pulse pain spread, heat radiated off of me; I felt the human__'__s weight lift off of me. I opened my eyes finding them unfocused with pain. I started to see in red._

_ The wolf suddenly changed back into a human, it was a horrific sight; his bones snapped and reformed, the fur fell off of his body, his teeth fell out then grew in once more, all in a matter of seconds. __"__What the hell did you do that for?!__"__ The werewolf cried, __"__You stupid vampire!__"_

_ "__What did I do?! What did you do! I had to bite her to ensure she__'__d die so we don__'__t have more of _your_ kind around here!__"__ He spat back, his fists clenched; they were close to breaking into an all out war._

_ I grunted and closed my eyes tightly the pain worsening. It was as if hot boiling oil was being poured over me while being electrocuted in specific areas. I gasped out for air, barely able to move. That is when I felt something even more horrible, as well as heard giving me knowledge of what was to come. My spine shifted, and my shoulders cracked along with my hips, I felt snapping companied by sharp pain. It seemed to drag on for hours on end as I pleaded for death. In addition to the werewolf transformation I began to feel my throat burning with desire, a desire for something to quench an unknown thirst; a thirst which I realized would be blood. I felt something rip out of my back where my shoulder blades are; attempting to peek behind myself, I realized there were large dark wings growing out and forming. My senses sharpened to painful levels, the sun was extremely harsh, I could smell things I could not recognise form many miles away, I heard every single insect buzz and thump along with any other creature within my new earshot range. The mental stimulation lasted for hours, I was unable to control any of it, the pain was the only distraction._

_ I opened my eyes, the pain finally ceasing. It was night time, there was a bright glowing white object in the sky; the moon, it was gentle on my optimized eyes. I slowly pushed myself off the grassy ground, feeling how cool the untouched areas were. I looked around weakly and pulled myself over to a nearby tree in which I relied on for support. I looked at my weak shaking body realizing that I was neither werewolf or vampire. I was just a hedgehog, with fangs similar to a vampire__'__s. I however felt the werewolf part of me deeply hidden inside. I then instinctively looked up at the moon and studied its shape. It was in a crescent shape. Slowly relaxing, almost sighing in relief, I let my body go limp. I thought about the professor, and how worried he must be. He would be unable to find me, unable to trace me, I just simply disappeared. _I need to get back home, to ARK… To the professor… I want to see who this Shadow is going to be…_ I closed my eyes. _I'm going to need my strength back before I do anything else though… So I guess I'll just try to sleep here._ I attempted to find a comfortable spot to sleep in. Nothing truly sufficed, regardless, I fell asleep within due time._

_ The harsh sun woke me up, stimulating my sensitive senses. I hid in the shadow of the tree finding my body very sore and stiff. I attempted to let my eyes gently adjust to the light, but it was too much. I slowly stood, using the tree to aid me, and I kept my eyes down in the dark grass. I squinted and glimpsed up for a moment and decided to wander through the trees since the light would be blocked by the leaves of the trees. I then followed through and ventured into the unknown forest on an unknown world. My ears quickly perked hearing a noise that I have not heard, but sounded strangely familiar. I followed my ears and it lead me to a tree; there was a shiny red gem partially sticking out. I slowly grabbed it and pulled it out with ease. It glowed brightly and I felt Chaos Energy flow through my body from the gem, the words __"__Chaos Emerald__"__ floated through my mind. In that moment everything seemed to click into place; I knew exactly what to do with it, I knew exactly how to use it, and I knew what I planned on doing with it. Closing my eyes and concentrating on ARK I summoned my strength to Chaos Control back to where I belonged; my home. _

_ I looked around, finding this light softer than the sun__'__s light. I quickly realized I was in the room I was created in. I heard the professor calling for me, worry was in his voice. __"__Daddy__…"__ My heart skipped a beat at his voice, excitement rippled through my body as I pushed it forward, running to him. I quickly tackled him into a hug; __"__Daddy!__"_

_ "__Cathy where have you been all this time? I__'__ve been worried sick, I couldn__'__t find you anywhere.__"__ He hugged back._

_ "__Why don__'__t you ask Black Doom__…"__ I mumbled gripping onto his lab coat._

_ "__Black Doom__…__? What would he know about you being gone?__"__ He questioned and pulled back, crouching down to my height._

_ "__He dragged me to an escape pod and threw me in__…__ He then sent it into space__…__ I landed on a planet and__…__ was attacked__…__ now I__'__m a vampire and a werewolf__…"__ I looked down, __"__I only was able to make it back here because of this; a Chaos Emerald__…"__ I studied it, holding it tightly in the palm of my hand._

_ "__Strange__…__ I had that in my possession, it disappeared not too long ago. I had assumed someone on the ARK had taken it.__"__ The professor took it from me gently then looked up. He slowly stood and placed himself between Black Doom whom had walked in, and I._

_ "__He__'__s going to kill me__…"__ I whispered and gripped onto the professor seeing the hate and disgust in Black Doom__'__s eyes._

_ "__Black Doom, as long as we are working together, and as long as you are aboard the ARK you are to work under my rules, and you are not to harm anyone on here, especially Cathy, Maria, and Shadow.__"__ The professor__'__s voice was stern and strict. _

_ "__Humph__…__ Fine, let__'__s just get to work already. He is barely created.__"__ Black Doom walked off towards project Shadow__'__s vat. _

_ "__Daddy__…"__ I looked up at him, my eyes held some worry in them._

_ "__It__'__s okay Cathy__…__ If you like you can come. I know he definitely won__'__t hurt you around me.__"__ He held out his hand, __"__Besides, you will get to meet Shadow__…__ He won__'__t be conscious though, at least I don__'__t believe he will be yet. Perhaps in the next couple of days he will be conscious.__"__ I took his hand as he gently lead me to Shadow._

_ Once we were there I looked at the vat. A black and red hedgehog remained unconscious in the green liquid the vat contained. I slowly went over to him and placed my hand gently on the glass as the professor and Black Doom went to work for hours._

_ "__Cathy, you should get some rest. I__'__m leaving and Black Doom should be in his room so it should be safe for you to wander a little.__"__ The professor spoke softly._

_ "__Okay__…__ I__'__m going to stay here for a little while longer__…__ He intrigues me.__"__ I curled up watching the unconscious hedgehog, studying his breathing and slight twitches._

_ "__Okay, but don__'__t stay up too late. You need your rest.__"__ The professor pushed._

_ I nodded and heard him leave. I remained consistent with watching him, I wondered what he would act like, I wanted to know his eye colour, I wanted to know if he would be nice like the professor or mean like Black Doom; I yearned to talk to him. I yawned a little getting tired, I also noticed the thirst in my throat getting worse. I rubbed my throat gently trying to somehow externally sooth it, however it did not aid me. _

_ "__Who__…__ are you__…"__ I heard an unknown voice gently ask. It was smooth and on the deep side._

_ I looked up and saw two crimson eyes looking down at me, I could not help but smile. __"__I__'__m Cathy.__"__ I felt my tail wag._

_ He looked around a little and then looked back at me for a moment before closing his eyes. __"__Shadow__…__?__"__ I spoke softly. _

_ He peeked one of his eyes open at me. __"__What do you want?__"_

_ "__How are you feeling? Is everything okay?__"__ I asked smiling._

_ He nodded and closed his eyes once more. His breathing settled and he seemed to drift off into a peaceful slumber. I curled up, still excited that he woke up, my tail still wagging like a mad man. I curled up on the floor by the base of his vat and closed my eyes. I wished to sleep, but I felt I could not leave him here all alone as he was. I tossed and turned but I eventually succumbed to unconsciousness. _

_ I felt someone shaking me gently with the whisper of my name as I was brought back to a conscious state. I looked up tiredly seeing the professor hovering over me. I slowly backed away and sat up. I blinked a few times and rubbed my eyes before yawning._

_ "__Cathy__…__ Why did you sleep here? I was worried you had disappeared again.__"__ The professor asked me gently._

_ "__I didn__'__t wanna leave Shadow__…__ He woke up last night__…"__ I muttered softly, not really in the mood for talking._

_ "__He woke up? What did he say?__"__ The professor asked curiously._

_ "__He asked who I was. I told him my name. I asked if he was feeling okay and he nodded then fell asleep.__"__ I mumbled and closed my eyes. _I wanna sleep more…

_ "__That__'__s good.__"__ He peered over his shoulder to the door which had opened. Black Doom walked in. The professor stood and went and conversed with him._

_ I looked up at Shadow and watched his breathing trying to determine if he was asleep or awake. I sighed softly unable to tell and tried to study the rest of his body for clues; finding no hints, I just simply watched Black Doom and Gerald. They soon got to work on Shadow; I watched and tried to learn about what they were doing without asking any questions. _

_ My concentration was interrupted by the burn in my throat increasing; I found both Black Doom__'__s and Gerald__'__s scent quite delightful. I shook my head to try and snap out of it. __"__Daddy__…"__ I mumbled softly._

_ He looked over, __"__What__'__s wrong?__"__ He asked._

_ I felt my fangs grow and I felt the wings of my vampire side sprout from my back; they were black demonic-bat like wings that had black and red feathers scattered throughout them. __"__H-help__…"__ I held myself tightly, afraid of what was happening, afraid of what I might do. I tried to keep my thoughts straight, I could sense and hear their heart beats; I could feel my sanity slipping away._

_ I felt as if I was slowly losing controlling over my body, my mind; all I could really do was see, hear, and feel, everything else escaped control. I observed my body lunge at the professor, the nearest one to me. However, instead of contacting him I saw a black blur, next thing I was fully aware of was the taste of sweet delicious blood. I came to realize that Shadow was below me, pinned helplessly._

_ "__Cathy__…__ Control y-yourself__…__ relax__…__ Everything__'__s going to be okay.__"__ He spoke softly into my ear._

_ I closed my eyes tightly, a few tears running out and soaking into his fur. I gulped down his precious blood, listening to him grunt in slight pain. I soon noticed a change in him. He was becoming weaker; I summoned the strength to remove my fangs. I glided my tongue over his wound, lapping up any blood that had escaped; I then noticed at that moment that his wound closed up, completely healed from that action. I slowly pulled back and looked into his eyes._

_ He looked into mine gently and then wiped my tears away. __"__It__'__s okay__…__ Apology accepted. I know that you never meant to, I can see it in your eyes.__"__ He pulled me down gently. My body laid on top of his, my face in his chest fur. I could feel his hand on the back of my head gently resting there. _

_ "__Shadow, you shouldn__'__t be out of your status tube, or pulling stunts like that.__"__ The professor told him softly. __"__I know you were just protecting me, but I can__'__t have you dying or losing a lot of blood like that.__"_

_ "…__ I know__…"__ He sat up while holding me. __"__I just__…__ couldn__'__t stand by and watch__…"_

_ I sensed his energy level at this moment; it was critically low, very similar to mine when I used my powers without my inhibitor rings. I checked his wrists and ankles for them and found none. __"__D-__…__ Professor__…__ Shadow__…__ He needs inhibitor rings__…"__ I stared at the floor, trying to remain distant._

_ I noticed Shadow looking at me, I also sensed Gerald__'__s stare. __"__Okay__…__ I__'__ll prepare some for him.__"__ He walked over and helped Shadow get up as his arms slipped off of me._

_ The professor put Shadow back in his vat where he belonged. I slowly stood and left as quickly as I could. Slowly but surely I made my way to the room that had been given to me. I locked myself in the room and hid underneath the blankets._ How can Shadow forgive me…

_ I laid there silently for awhile, lost in my own thoughts until I felt a shift within me. The werewolf inside me was stirring, I knew I was going to transform soon. A few minutes later the change initiated, my bones cracking and reforming like before until the conversion was completed. I whined softly and looked around a little. I noticed a dark figure in the mirror; startled I peered into it and saw an ebony black pelted wolf with crimson red eyes. I knew that it was I in the mirror. My ears folded back and I turned away. Slowly kicking the sheets back and then slipping under them as best as I could with the help of my muzzle, I tried to rest. _

_ The door squeaked open slowly alerting me to someone entering the room. I stuck the end of my muzzle out from underneath the blankets and smelled the air. _Black Doom…_My heart raced quickly, fear flooding every inch of my body. _What does he want!? Why is he in here!? _I questioned just before I felt him grab me and pull me out from under the sheets._

_ "__A werewolf as well__…__ How amusing.__"__ He held me up in the air by my hind paws. _

_ I tried to slip loose from his grasp, this only caused him to hold on tighter. He then glimpsed around for a quick second then tossed me into a wall; I smashed into it fairly hard, my head was the first thing to impact it. I felt disoriented for a few seconds then I heard a snap accompanied by sharp pain radiating from my left leg. Yelping in pain I attempted to dig my claws into the metal flooring and pull myself away, unfortunately I only slipped and slid a little when I made my attempt to escape. A dark laugh came from above, emitting from Black Doom. I looked up, the dark lighting only creating an image from a horror film, his eyes seemed to glow red, his body was strange and foreign due to his species, his overall aura was eerie. _

_ "__Do you really think you can escape?__"__ He asked me as he pushed down on my back._

_ I tried to shake him off, the pressure in my spine getting increasingly worse until with a swift movement my spine snapped; I cried out from the intense agony while losing all feeling and control of anything below my waist. I still refused to give in and dug at the floor trying to pull myself forward with my front claws, they only scratched and slid along the flooring. _

_ "__So pathetic.__"__ He mused, taking my arms and snapping them both. He then pushed me to the side and punched my ribs until they fractured under the constant impact. _

_ I coughed up blood trying to endure the beating, yearning for it to be over, whether death came first or not. The continual bashing lasted for hours, my body both sore and numb. Once it was approaching closer to morning he finished and left without another word. Even though Black Doom was gone and no physical contact was current, it seemed as if punches were still being inflicted._

_ Once it was truly morning, according to the clock that sat quietly in my room, I began to change back into a hedgehog, the pain more excruciating than usual, presumably due to the beating I endured throughout the night. I shivered slightly, chilled from not wearing any clothing. It was torn up when I had changed into a wolf. I let myself lie there helplessly, pondering if someone would find me. I closed my eyes gently and waited for unknown events to unfold._

_ An hour passed, someone finally walked into the room. My condition had worsened, breathing was difficult. __"__Cathy!?__"__ I heard the professors voice call out. I slowly peeked open my eyes. _

_ "__P-professor__…"__ I squeaked out, followed by coughing up blood. _

_ He swiftly picked me up, I winced and grunted in pain as he hastily took me to my vat. He put me in carefully and began treating me medically. I found breathing easier in here, the pain seemed to float away. I soon found myself quite drowsy, my eyes having a hard time staying open; I gave into the calmness and closed my eyes. Sleep quickly grasped my being in a quick, subtle peacefulness. _

_ I opened my eyes to the dim light of night time aboard the ARK. __"__You finally woke up__…"__ I heard Shadow close by, I then noticed a hand being placed on glass._

_ "__Shadow__…__ Why are you here? Shouldn__'__t you be in your status tube__…__?__"__ I asked quietly._

_ "__It doesn__'__t matter. The professor is worried about you, and__…__ I don__'__t want __**him**__ to interfere with you healing__…"__ He looked away._

_ "__Shadow__…__ Get me out of here__…__ Please__…"__ I told him more than asked._

_ "__No, the professor said that you need to stay in there until you are completely healed.__"__ He shook his head, __"__I__'__m sorry__…"_

_ "__Why are you here__…__ besides what you told me__…"__ I muttered._

_ "…__ I want to get to know you.__"__ He looked away once more._

_ I slowly focused and healed my body. I Chaos Controlled out and hugged him gently; __"__Well I can heal myself__…__ and I have power over Chaos Energy__…__ I can do a lot more, I can do anything I can imagine essentially.__"_

_ He looked at me gently then peered around. __"__Come__…__ I want to show you something.__"_

_ I felt his hand gently grasp mine, I felt my face get hotter, signifying I was blushing; we walked hand in hand to a wide open room with a large window. Earth lay before us glowing radiantly; stars twinkled in the darkness creating a pure scene of beauty. I stood there in awe, unable to find any words for this scene. _

_ "__It__'__s amazing__…__ isn__'__t it? Maria showed me this yesterday when I snuck out.__"__ He held my hand a little tighter._

_ "__I never talked to her or met her but the professor mentioned her to me.__"__ I muttered softly._

_ "__Oh__…__ She__'__s a nice girl, and the professor__'__s granddaughter.__"__ He looked at me gently._

_ "__Okay__…__ You know, I don__'__t think I know who gave their blood to me when I was created. You have__…__**him**__ but I have no idea who I had.__"__ I tilted my head slightly in pure curiosity._

_ "__So we aren__'__t related huh__…__?__"__ He pondered out loud._

_ "__No, we aren__'__t.__"__ I looked at him._

_ I was pulled in close, Shadow__'__s arms wrapping around my waist. I felt the blood rush to my face, __"__Wh-what are y-you doing?__"_

_ "__Relax__…"__ He whispered softly and gently kissed me._

_ I closed my eyes, slowly returning the kiss, my arms wrapping around his neck. I found myself a little lost, my mind not fully thinking for once. My mind broke away from the stimulation when I felt my back hit up against a wall gently, I then resumed enthralling myself in the sweet kiss. He slowly pulled away allowing me to access my surroundings. My head was light, my heart beat quick and fluttered, and my tummy seemed to flutter as well. We then both looked one another, each of us studying the other__'__s eyes. _

_ "__Ah-ehm__…"__ I jumped startled. I quickly looked over, whilst hiding behind Shadow and noticed the professor. I quickly wondered how much he witnessed. _

_ "__P-professor__…__ Um ah, she__'__s all healed up__…"__ His ears laid back a little._

_ "__You shouldn__'__t be out of your status tube, go back to it. Cathy I thought I said to treat him like a brother.__"__ The professor stated as if his own kids got into something and made a mess everywhere._

_ "__I, but, he- I__…__ We aren__'__t related!__"__ I panicked. _

_ He chuckled softly, __"__I know, it__'__s fine__…__ On a more serious note, however, if I had of been Black Doom things would have been a lot worse. Make sure you keep it very secret, I don__'__t want either of you hurt or disappearing. By the way, Cathy?__"__ He looked at me._

_ "__Y-yeah__…__?__"__ I stuttered out._

_ "__How are you all healed up?__"__ The professor asked me curiously._

_ "__I healed myself__…"__ I held tightly onto Shadow__'__s arm._

_ "__Ah. Very well then, don__'__t stay up to late, and make sure he gets to where he belongs.__"_

_ I nodded gently to the professor before he took his leave. I looked at Shadow and walked with him to his vat. I helped him get in then closed his vat up; I wished to be closer to him. __"__Shadow__…"_

_ "__What is it?__"__ He asked._

_ "__When can we see one another again__…__ alone?__"__ I put my hand to the glass gently; he put his over mine. _

_ "__I__'__m not sure__…__ I will find you when it__'__s safe, okay? Please be careful__…__ I don__'__t want to see you hurt__…__ sister.__"__ He looked saddened. _

_ "__I know__…__ brother. I guess I__'__ll go to sleep now too.__"__ I slowly let my hand drop from the cool glass._

_ "__Okay__…"__ He closed his eyes letting his hand fall into a resting position._

_ I regrettably left and carried myself to my vat. I slipped in without hesitation eager to sleep so I could hopefully see Shadow all that much sooner. Closing my eyes I attempted to sleep, however the eagerness and excitement stimulated my brain just enough to keep me awake. However, sleep itself is completely unavoidable and I eventually succumbed into a dream-filled sleep. _

_ I woke up rather early today, I presumed it was from the anticipation of seeing Shadow. I quickly Chaos Controlled out of my status tube and ran down the corridors until I was able to reach Shadow__'__s whereabouts. I burst through the door and went straight to the vat. I looked up and noticed he was still peacefully asleep. I sat down and quietly waiting for him to show signs of consciousness. My tail wagged as I awaited showing how I felt. _

_ I perked up hearing the door open; looking back I saw the professor. __"__You__'__re up early.__"__ He walked over and stretched a little. __"__You should be careful, what if Black Doom came here before me?__"_

_ "__I__…__ I don__'__t know__…"__ My ears flattened, I held my body closer to me._

_ "__I would have protected her__…"__ Shadow spoke softly, just waking up. __"__He wouldn__'__t have touched her, I wouldn__'__t let him.__"__ He growled lowly._

_ "__Shaddie__…"__ I looked at him, __"__What if you got hurt, I don__'__t want you hurt either.__"_

_ "__I__…__ I know, I__…__ I just can__'__t stand you being in pain__…__ or__…__ upset__…"__ He looked away and put his hand on the glass._

_ I slowly placed my hand where his was and tried to get a good look at him. __"__Shadow__…"__ I spoke softly. He looked at me, his ears lowered. __"__Please don__'__t do anything dangerous.__"_

_ "__But I need to protect you!__"__ He urged._

_ I looked back at the professor, not really knowing what to say; I was completely flattered he cared so much, but I could not allow him to get hurt because of me. __"__Daddy__…"_

_ At that very moment Black Doom walked in, silencing the room. Soon enough, the daily routine began; Black Doom and Gerald worked on Shadow, I sat close by, occasionally handing something to the professor, Shadow in his vat being worked on; all in all everything ran smoothly up until Black Doom left, his work finished for the day. The professor still lingered, he let Shadow out of his status tube._

_ "__You should be fine to stay out for awhile. I would also like to test your capabilities Shadow. I would like to use both you and Cathy for this.__"__ He sat down and looked at us both. __"__I want you, Shadow, to __'__attack__'__ Cathy with your powers. She can block them, so don__'__t worry. She can also absorb them.__"_

_ "__Cathy, is this true?__"__ He asked gently._

_ I nodded, __"__It__'__s true.__"__ I knew well that the professor was right, and I also knew that he was aware of what I was capable of. _

_ "__Catherine, why don__'__t you protect yourself? I know you can, but what stops you from doing so?__"__ The professor asked, using my full name. _

_ "__Catherine__…__?__"__ I heard Shadow mumbled; I temporarily ignored it._

_ "__I don__'__t like using my powers__…__ I__…__ I don__'__t know__…__ I don__'__t think of them at the time__…__ I__…__ I__'__m__…__ afraid__…"__ I muttered and turned my back to everyone._

_ "__Afraid? What are you afraid of child?__"__ The professor asked me._

_ "…__ I don__'__t know__…__ Myself__…__? Everything__…__?__"__ I mumbled._

_ "__You don__'__t need to be afraid. Maybe this session will also help you. We will both be here in case something happens, alright?__"__ The professor reassured me._

_ "__Okay__…"__ I looked over to Shadow._

_ "__Catherine? Isn__'__t it supposed to be Cathy?__"__ He asked._

_ "__Well, when I first named her she said to just call her Cathy for short.__"__ The professor mumbled, __"__So yes, I suppose.__"_

_ "__Oh__…"__ He looked at the two of us, __"__When shall we start then?__"_

_ "__Now would be good.__"__ The professor gave us the go ahead._

_ "__Cathy, let me know when you are ready, okay?__"__ I nodded._

_ I put up a light see-through blue barrier around my body, __"__You__'__re in the clear to do as you wish.__"__ I held the barrier up, keeping it strong._

_ Shadow used Chaos Spear, Chaos Lance, Chaos Blast, Chaos Rift, among other things on me, the barrier held strong and did not dissipate. After two hours we called it quits, the professor had seen enough and we were both starting to feel a little fatigue beginning to settle in. I slipped down to the floor, relaxing for a moment. _

_ "__Are you alright Cathy?__"__ He asked me softly and crouched down next to me. I nodded a little and hugged him. _

_ He smiled and sat down and held me; a gentle kiss on my cheek was placed by Shadow__'__s lips. I blushed a little, a soft purr escaped from my lips. I rested my head softly against his chest and snuggled; happy as can be, I curled up and closed my eyes, listening to his heart beat. I felt his fingers run through my quills before petting me gently. I looked up into his eyes; they were soft and warm, gentle and caring. I quickly found myself mesmerized in them, unable to peer away. However, from the corner of my eye I noticed a small smirk, then he closed his eyes, I instinctively closed mine; a kiss quickly came. A few moments later my ear flicked hearing the door open and close; the professor had left and we were all alone._

_ "__We are alone. I have you all to myself.__"__ He chirped happily, breaking away from the kiss only to nibble and kiss along my neck._

_ I shivered heavily and pulled him close to me, my fingers holding onto his fur tightly. I gasped softly when he found my sweet spot. Shivers ran through me, goose bumps following closely behind; a tingly feeling invaded quickly after. He soon tenderly gave me a hickey, the process of it causing slight shivers to ripple up and down my body. I lightly ran my hand through his chest fur before rubbing it and twisting the ends gently, occasionally tugging on it. His body heaved into mine and could not help but shiver; gently pushing me up against the wall he kissed my lips softly, I returned it, my heart pounding. _

_ I continued to toy with his chest fluff, sporadically pulling him closer by pulling on his fur. His shivering continued, I decided to rub his chest deeply and roughly now, smirking a little deviously as I did so. He pushed himself up against me with force and deepened the kiss; I playfully nibbled on his lips as he growled softly. He soon asked for entrance and I let him in; he delicately pulled my body closer, unable to get enough; he took initiative, wrapping my legs around his waist, the kiss enduring. _

_ He slipped his hand down to my ass gently caressing it, a small gasp escaped my lips, my back instantaneously arching out of reflex. He sensitively squeezed my cheek, a new sensation shuddered my body forcing me to jerk into Shadow; the sensation additionally caused goose bumps to form. _

_ He broke away for a moment, his hands slipped underneath my shirt and then lifted it up over my head exposing all but my breasts for they were hidden underneath a bra. He quickly unclasped it though, slipping it off of me with ease, exposing my bosom; I blushed a dark red as he moved to my pants. In a matter of seconds he had them unbuttoned and unzipped; I helped him slip them off along with my underwear; I took a few extra seconds to roll off my socks._

_ "__You__'__re beautiful.__"__ He admired my body, pulling back for a minute to just simply get lost in my beauty._

_ I felt my face flush a darker red, assuming it was possible; I slowly pulled myself into him and kissed him, my heart was racing, both excited and nervous at the same time. He smiled into the kiss as he returned the favour and slowly embraced me. _

_ He muttered softly between kisses, __"__Shall we move to my bedroom?__"_

_ I nodded swiftly, without further ado, he Chaos Controlled us to his bedroom, bringing my clothing as well. He then growled lovingly, and with a gentle push he sent me backwards into the bed. He then crawled over me, his member showing, clearly swollen with want; it glistened slightly in the dull light. Shadow quickly placed kisses along my chest, more goose bumps forming but only on the sight of impact. The kisses lowered from my breasts to my stomach then to my vulva; this started a heat to run through my veins, my heartbeat taking a different form._

_ His fingers delicately pushed aside my near symmetrical lips, I felt the cool air rush up against it, my muscles twitched slightly in response. I looked down at him for a moment to investigate what he was up to; his tongue glided over the bottom of my entrance all the way up to the hood of my clit. I gasped and could not help but try to squirm away, however, Shadow grabbed onto my legs and pulled my pelvic closer. He licked my now moist inner lips a few more times before turning his attention to my tiny, hidden pearl. He pulled at my folds until it peeked out from its hiding spot; he licked it once causing my body to jerk from the unusual stimulation. He quickly and tenderly nibbled on it before sucking it eagerly._

_ "__Shadow__…__!__"__ I breathed out heavily and gripped onto the bed tightly. Shivers ran all throughout my body, I curled my toes and grabbed onto the back of Shadow__'__s head and gripped onto his quills._

_ The sensitivity grew with each passing moment, I felt tingles of excitement ripple through me, my lips began to feel wetter with each suck. I gasped softly and tried to move a little, Shadow just pinned my lower half down so he could do as he seen fit. I bit down on my lip, pulling at it fairly hard with my teeth, I endured the need to squirm this way._

_ He eventually let my clit go free; I let a heavy breath out as he climbed over me and slipped himself in. __"__Ah!__"__ I gasped feeling his groin bumped up against my clit allowing me to forget about the slight pain that fizzled out in only a few seconds. _

_ His lips crashed down on mine as he locked my legs around his body. I kissed him passionately, his hips began to move, thrusting into my body; I gasped softly a few more times as each jolt of pleasure shook my body. I wrapped my arms around him and pushed my chest into his; hands slipped up along my sides to my breasts, my nipples were pinched, and my breasts were squeezed. _

_ With each thrust the pleasure grew; Shadow now kissed along my neck, I dug my fingers into his fur and gripped it tightly. My breathing became heavier and I reached a peak that caused me to moan, my back arched and my hips buckled; I heard Shadow moan softly in response to my quivers. However, Shadow kept pounding into me, I cried out in pleasure, Shadow__'__s hands pinning my body down against the soft bed. I found myself quickly coming to another peak of pleasure; just like before I moaned, my muscles contracted, and the sensitivity increased. I found myself moaning with each movement Shadow made, I pulled at his chest fur roughly._

_ "__Oh my god don__'__t stop! More more more more! Please more! Fuck me harder! Don__'__t stop! Please more!__"__ I begged him, only caring about the pleasure buttons he was pushing, craving all that he could give me._

_ He grunted, obeying my command; I cried out his name, the speed and power behind each thrust was overwhelming. The arches of my feet tingled hot yet cold, I breathed heavily my body becoming tingly and hot, but cold as well. I cried out Shadow__'__s name, my back arching full force, my toes curling, each muscle clenching; I could not breathe but at that moment nothing mattered except for the pleasure that rocked my body, shock waves were sent through me from head to toe; I never wanted it to end, it was so different from what I had experienced moments before. In the middle of all this I barely acknowledged Shadow as he cried out, reaching his own peak, his member fully inside me. I soon regained my breath and panted; he slipped his penis out and I moaned softly, clearly over-sensitive from the stimulation. _

_ He laid himself down next to me and wrapped his arms around me tightly. __"__I love you.__"__ He softly kissed my cheek._

_ I pulled myself closer to him, __"__I love you too.__"__ I panted, my body was shaking; I closed my eyes finding myself very satisfied and quite tired._

_ "__Rest,__"__ He covered our bodies with the sheets of the bed, __"__you need it. I__'__ll either be here, or in my status tube when you wake.__"__ He closed his eyes then lightly stroked my quills._

_ "__Mph__…"__ I curled up a little more getting comfortable. I soon found myself unconscious. _

_ The following morning, I shuffled a little and opened my eyes. Shadow was laying there, his breathing light, clearly unconscious. I smiled and stroked his cheek, he stirred a little and opened his eyes. He looked at me, his eyes soft, and still tired looking; he placed his forehead against mine and closed his eyes once more. I smiled and closed my eyes; I listened to the light hum of electricity. _

_ "__Hey Shadow__…__ Promise me you will never leave me.__"__ I hugged him tightly._

_ "__Cath, I promise I will never leave you. You should have known that before now.__"__ He nuzzled me._

_ "__I love you.__"__ I kissed him._

_ "__I love you too.__"__ He kissed back passionately. I became startled and broke off from the kiss when a knock emitted from the door__'__s speaker. Shadow got up and pressed a button to activate his side of the speaker. __"__Who is it?__"__ Shadow asked calmly._

_ "__It__'__s just me. Just wanted to make sure you were okay. I can__'__t find Cathy.__"__ The professor talked through the door with a little speaker._

_ "__Don__'__t worry. She__'__s just in here with me.__"__ He motioned for me to quickly get myself dressed._

_ I slipped over to my clothing and stopped time. Dressing myself within ninety seconds, I hugged onto Shadow__'__s arm, time returning to normal. I looked at Shadow and nodded to him, signalling I was ready._

_ Shadow opened the door and let the professor in and glimpsed to each end of the hall way. __"__He__'__s not around is he?__"_

_ "__No, he__'__s still in his room as far as I can tell.__"__ The professor looked at the two of us then shut the door behind him. __"__I also need to tell the two of you something.__"_

_ "__What is it?__"__ Shadow asked._

_ "__Shadow, I know I already mentioned to you some of the reasons as to why I created you, however I excluded one of them. The other reason why I created you was to actually be Cathy__'__s friend, or more, if the two of you seen fit.__"__ He explained._

_ I blushed and held onto Shadow__'__s arm more, __"__Thank you__…"__ I muttered softly. Shadow looked at me then slowly pulled my body against his._

_ "__Well, Shadow, we should get to work. I still have things to do with you.__"__ He reopened the door and walked through it. _

_ Shadow slowly slipped away and followed the professor. I slowly tagged along, staying close to Shadow; I looked around a little paranoid. Shadow looked back at me and slowly grasped my hand, I felt a little reassured. He smiled softly before looking towards the direction he was going. We soon reached where Shadow__'__s vat was located; we walked through the doors and I slipped my hand away from Shadow__'__s and went into a corner in the room. Sitting in a ball-like position, I watched the Professor prepare for today__'__s work. _

_ Not too long later, Black Doom came through as he usually did but I felt high tension in the air between him and Shadow. I wondered if he knew anything about us, and if he did how he knew. As far as I could recall he did not see us or have any contact with us when we were being more intimate. _

_ "__I want to talk to Shadow, alone.__"__ Black Doom spoke in a monotone sequence. _

_ "__Um__…__ Okay, but I can only give you five minutes.__"__ The Professor looked at everyone in the room a little worriedly._

_ Every fibre of my being was telling me that I had to stop this, Black Doom wanting to talk to Shadow was very bad. I slowly got up and got between Black Doom and Shadow; shaking I stared at Black Doom, my fists clenched and shaking. __"__I object.__"_

_ "__Get out girl, no one cares what you think.__"__ Black Doom growled lowly._

_ "__Cathy-__"__ The professor started_

_ "__I said __**no**__ to __**you**__ speaking with him. __**Leave, now.**__"__ I growled lowly._

_ "__Watch your mouth, and I won__'__t be the one leaving.__"__ He growled and lifted his arm. The professor quickly got in between Black Doom and I._

_ "__Okay okay, calm down you two.__"__ He stared at Black Doom._

_ Black Doom growled lowly, he walked past us and went to Shadow; taking him out of the vat, Black Doom induced Chaos Control, the both of them disappearing. I panicked, __"__No no no no no__…"__ I looked around quickly wondering where Black Doom would have taken Shadow._

_ "__Hey relax ssshhhhhhh.__"__ The professor grabbed onto my shoulder gently._

_ "__Something bad is going to happen, I can__'__t let anything happen, not to Shadow, I need to find him.__"__ My breathing was quick and sharp; Gerald grabbed onto me and hugged me, a few tears slipping from my eyes._

_ "__It__'__s okay, nothing bad is going to happen, alright?__"__ The professor rubbed my back._

_ "__Y-you promise?__"__ I held onto him._

_ "__Yes, I promise.__"__ He continued rubbing my back until I was calm. _

_ A light emitted in the room, I looked over and saw Black Doom and Shadow had returned. Shadow slowly went into his vat then fell asleep without a word. I looked at him, sensing something was not right. I looked over to Black Doom who seemed to have an implied despicable grin composed on his face._

_ "__Well professor, let__'__s get back to work.__"__ Black Doom continued with what he was doing before Chaos Controlling away with Shadow. The professor did the same. I sat back down in my corner and watched until long after they were gone._

_ My ears perked up as Shadow woke. I smiled and went in front of his vat, my tail swaying, __"__Shaddie!__"__ I chirped._

_ "__Um__…__ Who__…__ are you?__"__ He asked._

_ I looked at him weirdly, a knife felt as if it stabbed through my heart. __"__Shadow, it__'__s me__…__ Cathy__…__ Your big sister__…"__ my ears flattened. I felt my stomach knot and twist, I began feeling sick, my heart raced. _

_ "__I__'__ve never seen you before. Are you sure you aren__'__t confusing me with someone else?__"__ He asked and looked around._

_ I looked down, tears started swelling in my eyes, and they quickly over flowed. I slowly turned around and ran out the door, I heard __"__Hey wait!__"__ as the last words of our conversation. I slowed myself to a walk at the end of the hallway, my eyes too blurred to see where I was going properly. I stumbled down the hallway for a while until I bumped into something. I looked up to see what, or whom, it was. _

_ "__Cathy__…__? Hey, what__'__s wrong? What are you crying for?__"__ The Professor asked._

_ "__Y-you w-were w-wrong__…"__ I grabbed onto his hand and showed him what Shadow said; I could not bear to speak._

_ His eyes widened, __"__What did Black Doom do__…__?__"__ He quickly went off towards Shadow__'__s status tube; I hesitantly followed him, trying to keep my eyesight clearer. _

_Once we were there, Gerald went to work immediately. __"__Professor__…__ I thought we were done for the day, this isn__'__t your usual hours__…__ Who is that girl? Is she okay?__"__ He looked at me then back to the Professor._

_ "__I just need to um__…__ adjust a few things.__"__ He looked at Shadow then to me before resuming whatever he was trying to do._

_ After a bit, the professor spoke quietly, __"__I__'__m sorry, but at this time I don__'__t believe I can fix his memory__…__ I__'__m sorry__…"__ His voice was apologetic._

_ I gripped onto myself tightly, Chaos Controlled to my room and dived into my bed. I closed my eyes tightly and burrowed my face into my pillow, sobbing. Pain and hate burned deeply in my core, I tried to deal with the mix of emotions. I eventually just gave in and cried; however, this instigated a headache. I slowly succumbed to sleep, unwilling to do anything else. _

_ I woke up feeling nauseated; I quickly ran to the bathroom and vomited into the toilet. I groaned softly and held my stomach; _am I getting sick?_ I pondered. I adjusted my position and puked once more, starting to feel a little better. I slowly stood after a bit;_ I should get Daddy to look at me, just in case something is wrong._ I made my way to his office; I was in luck since he was still there._

_ "__Daddy__…"__ I muttered a little. __"__I don__'__t feel so great.__"_

_ "__What happened? Is this about last night?__"__ He asked._

_ I shook my head a little, __"__I__'__m puking__…__ Not sure why__…"__ I sat down in a nearby chair. _

_ Gerald came over and did a quick check up. __"__Everything seems fine. You don__'__t seem like you have the flu. I could run a blood test or something, make sure everything there is okay.__"__ I nodded a little._

_ He took some of my blood and ran some tests. Approximately fifteen minutes later, the results were in; the professor sighed and ran his hand along his face then along his moustache. He looked at me and then looked at the results, contemplating._

_ "__What?__"__ I asked quietly, my voice filled with sadness._

_ "__Um__…__ Well__…__ You__'__re pregnant__…__ I__'__m just going to go ahead and assume it__'__s with Shadow.__"__ He then added, muttering softly, __"__I can__'__t believe that happened so fast__…"_

_ "__I wait, what?! But, I, we only did it the night before last night! That__'__s impossible isn__'__t it?!__"__ I looked at my stomach._

_ "__Well, not exactly. With the mutations you endured, as well as the way both you and Shadow were created, and how I did it, including your genes, and so on, the period in which the baby will develop will be much fast, and much different from any normal pregnancy. This certainly is fascinating.__"__ He looked at the results again._

_ "…__ Shadow__…__ He doesn__'__t even remember me__…__ The baby won__'__t even have a father__…"__ I curled up, tears streaming down my face. __"__Black Doom needs to pay, he needs to die__…__ I__'__m going to kill him.__"__ I became angry very quickly; a dark aurora encased itself around me._

_ "__Cathy, calm down. No one will be killing anyone, even if that someone is Black Doom.__"__ He hugged me. __"__I__'__ll keep trying to fix Shadow__'__s memory okay?__"_

_ I slowly starting sobbing again and nodded. I closed my eyes trying to calm down and contain myself. I slowly began getting another headache once more; I allowed myself to drift into sleep, the only salvation I had._

_ I awoke, looking around I realized I was in my room. I wasn__'__t sure what time it was until I sat up and looked around. _Night._ I dimly thought before falling back on the bed; I looked down at my stomach, there was a small bump notifying me that the baby was growing very quickly, and well. All of a sudden, an alarm went off. Jumping out of bed, I ran into the hallway. I heard some gunfire. I ran towards where the shots were fired, wondering what was going on. _

_ "__Cathy watch out! Run!__"__ The professor called out._

_ I looked over and noticed G.U.N. soldiers. I began to run towards the Professor, my heart racing. Fear held me in its grasp; _What's happening?! Who are these people and why are they here? Why do they have guns and for what purpose?_ I heard shots fire and everything after that was completely black, and empty._


	4. Chapter Four

I jumped up coming back to reality, sweat poured off me; I flinched seeing movement and jerked away when I felt a light touch to my arm. "Hey take it easy… relax… You were really out of it for hours." I heard Shadow's voice.

"I'm… alive…? How am I… alive…?" I looked at my hands.

"What are you talking about?" He looked at me, wondering what I meant.

"You… still don't… remember…" My voice got quieter as I went on, "The baby… It's… dead…" I felt a tear trickle down my right cheek.

"Huh?" He looked completely lost as to what I was murmuring. I slowly put my hand on either side of his head. "Hey wh-!" He grunted as I realized what the problem was with his memory, what Black Doom had done to him. I resolved the issue; he grunted and gripped his head tightly, dealing with the flood of memory coming back to him. Several minutes later, he slipped back to reality. "C-Cathy…?" I hugged him tightly, not wanting to let go.

"I… Yeah I guess I am." I closed my eyes, letting my head rest against him.

"You're… so different. I… I'm sorry that I lost my memory… like that… You must have felt so alone…" He stroked my quills.

"At the time… I suppose I did. I don't have to feel alone anymore now though." I looked up at him, "I-if you don't hate me… If you even accept me, like you did… I'm so different…" I gripped onto his chest fur tightly.

"Of course I don't hate you, I could never hate you, and of course I accept you… It's just that you used to be so reserved now you speak your mind so much more… It's… just not what my memory is used to. That doesn't mean how I felt changed, I still love you." He held onto me tightly.

I smiled and hid in him, "Let's not really tell Abraham this. At least for now."

"Understood, my love." He kissed my cheek then smoothly ran his thumb along my other cheek. He then moved his hand down to my chin and gently grabbed hold of it, forcing me to look up. A kiss filled with passion landed upon my lips. I responded and kissed back with just as much passion.

After a little bit we broke off and stared into one another's eyes. "I feel happier now that I remember, now that I'm with you." I spoke softly.

He smiled, "I haven't felt like this since when we were together on ARK. I actually feel… happy." He brushed my bangs to the side.

"Shadow, come in, Shadow." My ear flicked, hearing Rouge on the other end.

With a sigh he responded, "What is it Rouge?"

"G.U.N. is under attack, we've fallen back into the building but I don't think we will be able to hold it for much longer." Rounds could be heard going off in the background.

"I'll be there almost immediately, sit tight." He grabbed a couple of guns quickly from his closet in his room aboard the ARK.

"Who would attack G.U.N.?" I asked and was handed a gun by Shadow.

"Besides the Doctor, I don't know. Chaos Control!" He brought us back to G.U.N. I quickly ducked, shortly after I was pulled to cover by Shadow. The complete base was a disaster and almost in total ruin.

Rouge rolled over and took cover along side us; "I think it's the good ol' Doctor, but this seems different, I have reason to believe that he is working along side someone." Rouge peeked towards the enemy.

I took a quick look, the enemy consisted of Eggman's robots, but in the back of my mind, I knew he would not have made it this far to overpowering us and essentially taking over the fort. "I think you're right Rouge. If this was just Eggman he should have been fairly easily eliminated by now."

"Then I guess that just leaves it to who is truly behind this." Rouge glimpsed back to the enemies once more.

"I'll take care of this quickly." I muttered and slowly began to stand.

Shadow pulled me down, "No you don't I am not losing you! Not when I just got you back!"

I looked at him and smiled a little, "I'm glad you care but I'll be okay. Don't worry, I'm not the scared little girl I used to be, okay? You won't lose me."

"Um… What's going on between the two of you?" Rouge asked.

"Ah… Let's take care of the issue before we even begin to discuss that, Rouge." Shadow glimpsed at her then looked back to me, "Are you sure you can handle this?"

"Yes Shadow; I have barriers and I can absorb anything they throw at me. Don't worry, okay?" I stroked his cheek softly for a brief moment.

I stood putting up a strong force field and walked out. As I walked past anything that dared to touch me, and anything that was close enough just instantly fell apart and disintegrated into dust. I soon got close enough to Eggman to speak with him, however I was not close enough to destroy his machine, nor harm him.

"Ah, hello my spiny friend." He tapped his fingers, his voice held curiosity.

"Hello, Eggman. I suggest you leave or I'm afraid I'll have to put you in your place." I warned.

"Oh? What place do you speak of?" He questioned, amused.

"Well, there are many places I could put you: hell, in a cell in the most defended prison, or perhaps somewhere a little more cruel…" I studied my surroundings for a brief moment; I destroyed what was left of his robots.

He chuckled, his fingers snapped and a net flew around my barrier and wrapped itself around it. Small lightning-like bolts of electricity came from the contact, then all of a sudden, the barrier collapsed; completely shocked and in disarray I found myself tangled in the rope that tightened around me until moving was rather difficult.

"What the hell is this?!" I growled, trying to break free. I attempted to use my powers, everything failed. "I don't understand why can't I do anything?"

"Cathy!" Shadow ran over looking at Eggman, his eyes were fiery and cold.

"No get away! Get to cover! Don't touch the net, don't get caught in one!" I told him, I tried to reach my knife.

"Now why would I let her go, Shadow?" He seemed amused with all of this.

"… I… If you let her go I'll do whatever you want, just please leave her alone…" Shadow looked down.

"You idiot what are you doing?!" I growled.

"Say quiet." Shadow snapped at me quietly.

"Hmm… I don't know… She's more powerful than you are. I could really conquer the world with her; everyone, no, everything will bow before me!" He laughed manically.

I reached my knife with a great deal of struggle. I tried to cut along the rope and felt extreme pain from the net as I did so. I yelped and closed my eyes tightly, the net gripping tighter. I felt a few tendrils brush against my skin; to my horror, I realized that the net was a _living_ creature.

"Sh-Shadow! Get this thing off me get it off get it off get it off! Shoot it, kill it!" I panicked and felt fear for the first time in a long time.

"Kill it…?" He looked at the net carefully, his eyes widening, "What in the hell…? Doctor, get it to let go of her!" He shouted at him, "Now!"

I looked over and saw a strange alien similar in some ways to Black Doom come from the shadows. "Shadow The Hedgehog… I am sorry but I cannot allow it. I am Nurki. This man was kind enough to bring you to us, and this man shall have her as his reward. I am a species cousin to your bloodline. I was told that you have committed the highest treason and murder capable of in our rules." He explained. "Additionally, do not worry, unlike your more savage bloodline, we survive off of energy more like a parasite. We do not harm our… 'hosts'. Your friend will be fine once my little pet is removed; she should have full control and capabilities tomorrow evening or the day after anywhere from early morning to noon on this planet. If he were to be removed later, the time would obviously have extended to some degree. Now, for a more pressing matter, we are here to take you and trial you for the crimes you have committed. Please, come quietly, let's not make anything worse than it has to be. If you don't come quietly, I will not ensure that this man stops his assault on this building."

His ears flattened against his head, his head lowered; he slowly moved towards Nurki and accepted arrest. Some other similar looking creatures came and took Shadow away. Nurki walked over and picked me up; I glared at him, my eyes filled with complete detest for him.

"I'm sorry young one." In a flash of Chaos Control, Nurki, Eggman, and I were all in Eggman's base. "Doctor Eggman, as long as we are here, while we are doing Shadow's trials, you may use my pet as you please. It does drain energy from its hosts, but it doesn't use all of it at once, there is a 'storage' area it uses. Now, you can tap into this storage and gather pure Chaos Energy from it, if that is what you wish, as well as keeping her under control. Her power is great, it would be unwise to not keep it under control, or surveillance." He put me down in one of Eggman's cells. He locked it up before speaking once more, "With that, I will take my leave. Enjoy your reward." He waved, walking a little distance before disappearing in Chaos Control.

I watched as the net pulled back and formed into a bracelet that held firmly onto my left wrist. I tried to pull it off but it just caused a pinch of pain so I ceased immediately. Eggman began working for a little while before hooking up a weird system to the odd alien creature in order to access its storage area and collect the energy it had received from me. Once Eggman left I quickly pulled out my knife once more; I knew it was not a great idea but I tried to cut the strange creature off. Each time I tried pain radiated through me, and each time I had to take a few minutes breather.

A sick thought crossed my mind; _if I cut off my arm__…__ the creature attached to it wouldn__'__t be sucking away my energy. All I have to do is escape before it reattaches. _Desperately, I held my knife approximately a foot above my arm as it rested against the cell bars; I shook at the thought, but I squeezed my eyes closed and went to begin cutting off my arm. I felt my arm stop and pull away, as if I had no control over it, pain exploded throughout my body; I cried out and collapsed gasping for breath. I dropped my knife curling up, hot tears began running down my face. _Please just get off__…__ Please, don__'__t hurt or take away Shadow__…_ I laid there for an indeterminate amount of time.

I heard footsteps slowly approach my cage. I heard the door open and someone walk in, "Cathy… Please tell me you're awake…" I heard Shadow's voice murmur softly.

"Shadow!" I sat up quickly and hugged him extremely tightly. He hugged back, his fingers gripping onto me tightly; I gripped onto him as well, not wanting to let go. "Please don't leave!"

"I don't want to leave… I only have a few minutes to be here… I need you at the trial, and I need Rouge and Omega, along with some others from G.U.N." He pulled back a little and looked into my eyes. "You've been crying…"

I looked him over quickly and noticed the same strange creature wrapped around his wrist area. "You have that _**thing**_ attached to you too?" I shuddered.

"Yeah…" He sighed. "Cathy… Once the trial is over how about we go away somewhere far away… Somewhere hidden, somewhere no one can find us… Just for a little while."

I smiles and hugged him tightly, "I'd love that…" I nuzzled him lovingly.

"Shadow, it's time." I heard Nurki state.

"No please just a little longer…" I held onto Shadow tighter.

"Hey it's okay… you have to be at my trial remember, so we won't be far apart." He stroked my head gently.

"Stupid alien, if you harm him, kill him, or anything, I promise you I **will** get free, I **will** hunt you down_and_ I will **kill** you along with your species. Do you understand me, _**Nurki**_?" I growled lowly, my words were filled with detest.

"By chance are you the one who Black Doom took a disliking to aboard ARK?" Nurki asked.

"Yes, _what about it?__"_ I spat.

"You have a rather large hatred is all, I figured there must have been more to make you feel that anger and hate than just the recent events may have caused." He motioned for us to get up.

Shadow slowly stood, helping me to my feet. I picked up my knife putting it in its sheath before holding onto Shadow's hand and following Nurki to where the trial's whereabouts. It was located not too far from G.U.N.'s base. I gripped onto Shadow's hand tighter; examining my surroundings, I noticed there were quite a few other aliens that were clearly under Nurki's ranks. I looked around a little more and saw Omega, Rouge, and a small group of humans sitting together.

I looked at Shadow just before he looked at me, "Go join Rouge and Omega, okay? I'll be fine." He slowly slipped his hand from mind taking his place.

I slowly went and joined Rouge and Omega as he told me to. I curled up in a chair next to Rouge. She glimpsed at me for a moment then looked to Shadow. The trial began; it was boring, just stating facts and things from the past such as when Black Doom tried to destroy the world for food, when Shadow murdered Black Doom, and destroyed what he thought was all of his bloodline. He then spoke of his G.U.N. mission to destroy the meteor heading towards Mobius and the events that happened there. Rouge, Omega, and the small group of humans added their sides of the story as to what had happened.

"Cathy, do you have anything to say?" Nurki asked me.

I looked over at him, my face portrayed boredom. "I think this is a waste of time. Shadow may have killed Black Doom and most of the… 'colony' on the Black Comet, but what he did was right. There were probably just fewer than seven billion people on that planet, so what if he had to kill one thousand flesh-eating aliens? He saved more lives than he killed, especially in the long run. They would not have stopped there, with the humans, they would have kept searching for more civilizations in which they could devour to gain nutrients. Survival of the fittest, in those scenarios Shadow, humans, Mobians, whomever… they turned out to be more worthy of living. Such is the way of nature."

"So you find him not guilty?" He asked.

I sighed, "No, I'm saying he did it, but he shouldn't be thrown in jail or anything. He's not a psychopath, he's a protector. You may not see it that way since those aliens had a vague bloodline with you, but when it really comes down to it, you should be glad they are dead. You won't have any 'food shortages' since everyone will be alive. You could take energy from this world until everyone dies out from natural causes, or the sun exploding. Black Doom's bloodline death means your survival. You have more civilizations to invade than you would have, than you did all thanks to Shadow, actually."

"You're sick." He sighed.

"No, nature is. If nature was supposed to be gentle, beautiful, and lawful then it would have been. It's not: it's sick, twisted, demented; whoever triumphs whether or not it was foul play, they will survive and the weak will die. That's all there is to it. Oh, and I would like to add that Shadow should be trialed by human laws since he is of Earth, or Mobius, however you want to look at it, and not of… whatever the hell you things are." I tapped my foot.

"We are getting off topic." He growled.

"Not exactly." I argued.

"Jury, discuss the trial, come back once you have an answer." He ordered the aliens standing not too far from us.

They left my seat and I went over to Shadow, hugging him tightly. "Hey…" I nuzzled him softly.

"You really do speak your mind now… So unlike before…" He held me closely, pulling me into his lap. "Everything is going to be okay…" He stroked my quills, brushing them out of my face.

"Do you really think so?" I asked him, snuggling up against him.

"If something goes wrong I promise I will make it right, okay?" He asked, stroking my cheek.

"Okay." I ran my hand through his chest fur, a light blush formed on his cheeks. I smiled and kissed him gently.

He kisses back for a few moments before breaking off and holding my hand, his arm wrapped around me. He looked up seeing Rouge. "Since when did the two of you become love birds."

"Shortly after Shadow was created I suppose. However, his memory was… 'modified' by Black Doom so he didn't remember me. I died soon after, but I'm alive now, somehow… I don't know how, and I'm still missing some memories. That's a different thing though. Once Shadow and I both remembered our pasts, we hooked up again… I'm happy to have him back." I explained and held a little tighter onto Shadow.

Shadow smiled and nuzzled my neck before speaking, his lips slightly brushing up against my skin causing shivers to run down my spine; "I'm happy to have you back too you know. So please, don't do anything too rash. I'll get you away from Eggman as soon as I can. Rouge, you and Omega, please, if something happens and I can't do anything to save her, do it for me."

"I will but what about you? We are not going to leave you locked up somewhere, or worse, killed." She told him flat out, "So if we have to save your ass first then we are going to get you first, then we can all go save her from Egg-head."

"B-" Shadow began I covered his mouth.

"If you get killed… I… I feel like my sense of living would be lost, so… If it means life or death, you're going to take the life option no matter what, okay? So if it means they have to save you first, they are going to do it first." This whole conversation was at a volume level in which Nurki could not hear.

"The jury is in." One of the members of the alien race spoke out.

"We find Shadow guilty, however we will not charge him; he was under human rule at all times, and he was also never aware of our species rules." Another member spoke.

I smiled, and nuzzled Shadow, "You were right." I happily cried out.

"I told you everything would be okay. Did you doubt me?" He asked.

"Maybe a little bit…" I muttered apologetically.

"Well… this trail is dismissed. Shadow, we will leave, however, one day we may return." He looked at the two of us then came over. "Young one, I need to return you to that man now and I will need my 'pets' back." He stroked the strange creatures and they just folded off falling into his hands gently. I rubbed my wrist and examined it. Three miniscule holes were the only evidence of the creature's presence. He grabbed my hand gently and Chaos Controlled us to my cell then disappeared without another word. I looked around, locked in a cell, alone; I examined the door trying to see if I could pick the lock.

"Shadow… Please don't make me wait too long…" I sighed softly wondering what would happen if I picked the lock. I looked up and noticed some wires connected to the cell. I followed them with my eyes finding an alarm system. I slowly slid down to the floor and waited, knowing my Chaos Energy was not at a level in which I could use.

My ear flicked as someone came into the room. I curled up a little more, my eyes closed. I heard them stop at me cell door and open it, "Cath?" I heard Shadow whisper.

I looked back at him tiredly, "Hey little brother…" I slowly got to my feet. I was hugged instantly. "Mph…" I hugged back, "Shaddie snugglie…" I yawned.

"You're cute when you're tired." He smiled. I blushed, his arms picking me up and holding me in bridal style. He carried me out of the base with ease, there were no signs of robots and there were no signs of Eggman either.

"Shaddie… Where is Eggy?" I nuzzled his neck lightly.

"I don't know but he left with his robots not too long ago which meant I had a huge opening to come get you." He kissed my forehead.

I smiled, "So where are we going to go…" I asked.

"I'm not sure yet. Is there anywhere in particular you always wanted to visit?" He was leading us back to G.U.N.

"New Zealand, but that is also on Earth… So we could go there or find the Mobius' equivalent to it." I looked up at the dark, cloud-filled sky.

"Okay." He replied simply, soon entering the base of G.U.N.

"Cathy, Shadow, in my office." Abraham appeared to be waiting for us.

I whined, "Oh shut up and leave us alone." Shadow chuckled softly.

"I really shouldn't have taught you to be like that…" He sighed, "Either way we still need to discuss things." He lead us to his office, Shadow followed, I, still in his arms.

Shadow sat down gently, refusing to let go of me. "What is this about?" He asked calmly.

"I was watching the trail and I couldn't help but notice you two having a relationship. So whatever this is, it's obviously not supposed to happen in a work place." He sat down.

"Oh big deal, you can take your rules and shove them up your ass." I growled lowly. "Neither of us is quitting, and neither of us is terminating the relationship. Deal with it old man."

"Stop talking to your superior like that." He was starting to be fed up.

"Then shut up and leave us alone." My tail flicked getting a little aggressive.

"You're lucky I can't fire you." He held his head.

I stuck my tongue out at him then clung onto Shadow. "By the way, Shadow and I are going on vacation. I don't know when we will be back or whatever but we are disappearing for a bit." I notified him.

"Fine whatever; just try to not jeopardize anything over your relationship." He dismissed us.

"I'm aware." Shadow stated, standing he brought us to my room at G.U.N.

He gently laid me down on the bed, and then he lay next to me. I snuggled and closed my eyes, feeling the sheets wrap over me. A small smile appeared on my face, a kiss on the forehead came directly after.

"Goodnight, my love." I heard Shadow whisper softly. It was the last thing I heard before falling into slumber.


	5. Chapter Five

I opened my eyes; I noticed Shadow was still asleep. Smiling some, I kissed his forehead and snuggled a little closer to his body. I closed my eyes once more and relaxed, enjoying the warmth of the bed. Not too long later I pulled away a little bit and snapped my fingers to see if I could get a little flame; it flickered for a brief moment._ My Chaos Energy is still very low__…_

"Everything okay…?" I heard Shadow murmur and pull me close, embracing me tightly.

"My Chaos Energy is still really low…" I sighed and burrowed my face into his chest.

"Mine isn't in great shape either, but… compared to mine, I feel like your energy is nearly depleted." He stroked my quills. "Just give it some more time. We could always go see Faker and get an Emerald from him, see if it helps?"

"Okay… I wouldn't mind that. We can do that later, I want to lie here for a little while longer with you… it feels nice." I nuzzled him gently.

"Okay." He smiled softly, his hand continued to stroke my quills.

I slowly grasped his hand that was not stroking me; I held it in mine, our fingers between the others. I yawned a little and kissed along his collarbone; he shivered slightly and held onto my body tightly, and closely. I licked his neck and sucked a little before sinking my fangs into his vulnerable neck. I heard a small grunt come out of him, his grip tightening. I began drinking his blood, indulging in his flavour.

"T-take it easy…" He groaned a little.

I tried to become gentler as I drank his blood; he closed his eyes and endured. I stopped when his grip began to weaken; licking his wound closed, I looked to his face to see if he was okay. He opened his eyes and then felt where I had bitten.

"Are you okay?" I asked him, my voice sounding innocent.

He gave a little nod and wrapped his arms around me, "So why aren't I a vampire? Can you even turn people?"

"I can turn them if I want to… I just never want to, and I especially don't want you to ever change." I stroked his cheek then kissed him.

He kissed back for a few brief moments, and then broke off. "What do you want to do that you have never done?"

"That's an odd question coming from you… Umm… Hmm…" I began thinking. He chuckled softly and kissed my forehead. "Camping I guess… Like real out in the middle of nowhere camping. No cabins or anything, just wilderness."

"That sounds nice… Maybe we could do that while we are on vacation in New Zealand. Hike a little, explore a little, enjoy the views… We could do anything we wanted." He started playing with a small section of my quills. "Although, nothing will surpass your beauty…"

I blush a dark tomato red, and instantly hid my face. He placed his palm against my cheek and then gently slid it underneath by chin, his fingers pushing up so I would look at him. I only felt myself fluster more. "Wh-what are you doing?"

"Enjoying you blushing." I pulled away and hid my face in his chest fur. "You are very cute, Cathy." I felt my heart racing, and I began feeling timid.

"W-well ah… We should go see S-Sonic for those Emeralds n-now." I stuttered some, slipping out of bed; I undressed from the clothes I slept in and began looking for fresh ones.

"… You have so many scars… You were hurt a lot…" He slowly walked over and ran his finger down the middle of my back to my side, it just starting to wrap around my body. "What are they all from?"

I thought for a moment, "You know… I'm not sure I never bothered keeping track. I think the one you just touched may have been from some hunk of metal like from an exploding helicopter or some other vehicle… I think it was when Abraham sent me out into the general foot-soldiers area. I don't remember much of it. I came straight out of training into the field, first day I got that. The boys didn't think I was gonna make it. I went back into the field though once I was healed up enough. There was a younger guy there, probably just out of high school, still in his teens. He acted out when the commander told him not to, he put himself in danger, I tried to save him, I shouldn't have bothered… All it got me was a bullet to the head." I reached up and touched the back of my head where it had exited. "Only good it brought me was the knowledge of knowing I cannot die. I guess whatever gap there is between me dying on ARK and me being… resurrected, there would have been some slight modifications I probably did to myself."

"You're too careless on missions." He hugged me from behind. I looked at us in the mirror that was placed in front of us.

"Yeah… Part of it is because I know I can't die… When I first started I honestly felt lost, had no idea what to do. The weird motion commands people give confused me more than helped me. I like working at my own pace, by myself. I feel more gathered and focused, like I know what I'm doing and no matter what happens I can just roll with it and get things done." I slowly turned around in his arms and kissed his cheek. "You know you have quite a few scars yourself."

"I know." He replied, his voice whispery.

I gently pulled his arms from around me and began getting dressed. Once I was ready I grabbed Shadow's hand firmly, "You good to go?" I asked.

He nodded, "I'll take one of G.U.N.'s Jeeps. Do you know how to drive?"

"It's actually one of the things I never bothered with… Come to think of it, I don't know how old this body is…"

"You still are missing quite a few memories, aren't you… even after ARK?" He asked

"Yeah… Well I mean there are things and memories floating in my head… just I feel like there's still a gap missing…" I began walking slowly.

"It's okay. Just like everything else, it will come to you, okay?" He reassured.

"Okay…" We were soon where the vehicles were.

I followed Shadow as he picked his Jeep. I hopped in the front seat as he started it up and drove off. I looked out the window the entire time, staring off into space, random thoughts captivating me. I felt something slightly brush up against my hand causing me to flinch away and look towards it. I came to realization it was only Shadow's hand.

"You okay?" He asked. I nodded a little and held his hand.

"I just wasn't really expecting it. My mind was somewhere else." I looked through the front windshield.

"What were you thinking about?" He rubbed his thumb along the side of my hand.

"Just wondering what I can't remember, wondering who I am, or rather what… just stupid things…" I sighed and closed my eyes.

"They aren't stupid." He slowed and turned, quickly stopping. I peeked opened my eyes realizing we were at Sonic's already.

Shadow got out of the Jeep and I followed him, staying close to him. Shadow just opened the front door and let us inside, "Um Shadow…?" I muttered, "Shouldn't we knock?"

He shook his head, "FAKER!" He shouted, I cringed and covered my ears finding it very loud. He glimpsed at me apologetically.

A gush of wind came and Sonic was standing in front of us, "What's up, Shadow?"

"We are taking two of your Chaos Emeralds. Where are they?" His tone was cold.

"Why?" Sonic asked.

"Because we need them." I wandered to where I sensed them.

"For what?" Sonic followed, Shadow tagged along, his arms folded.

"None of your business, Sonic." I soon found them. He had five of them; I grabbed the red one and tossed the green one to Shadow. I accepted the energy that began coursing through me, absorbing small portions through a large amount of time. "That feels nice…"

"Yeah, it does… Let's get going." Shadow grabbed my hand softly.

"Um… Hey what if I need them?" Sonic asked.

"Then ask the Emeralds where to find us, Faker." I stuck my tongue out at him.

"They are safer not in your hands anyway." Shadow grunted, and pulled me along gently, bringing us back out to the Jeep. I kept close to him, holding onto the Emerald tightly.

Shadow opened my door and let me in. I slipped in and put on my seat belt as he pushed the door with enough force to close it. I adjusted my posture a little as Sonic just watched from his front door. Shadow slipped into the driver's side and started the Jeep. He pulled out of the driveway and started driving along the road.

"So where are we going now, exactly?" I asked, pulling my quills back out of my face, and then briefly tried to fix them a little.

"Well we could go to New Zealand now, or we could head back to the base and get a few things before heading out." He glimpsed over to me for a moment.

"Get a few things I guess… Yeah we should prepare for a bit of camping and whatnot." I smiled a little; thoughts of fishing flooded my mind. "I wanna go fishing!" I chirped happily.

He chuckled gently, "Well back to the base it is." He made the nearest turn and continued driving. I adjusted my posture and stared out the window spacing out.

"Cat, we are here." Shadow whispered in my ear softly before biting it, snapping me out of my daydream.

I whined, "Why did you bite my ear?" I pulled it away and rubbed it.

"I felt like it… I didn't hurt you did I?" I looked at him and shook my head. "Good… I don't want to hurt you." I slipped out of the Jeep, he followed suit.

"I'll go get a few things then meet up with you, okay?" Shadow started heading off in a different direction.

"Okay." I went to my room and swung open the closet doors quickly.

_ I__'__m going to need a good bag. _I scanned the closet quickly spotting a huge military, heavy-duty backpack. _Perfect._

Grabbing the backpack I went into my drawers and took any first aid kit, knives, and survival packets I could find, followed by any fire starting tools I had. I then remembered my blue tarp and tent and found my way back to my closet, trying to dig them out. After tossing a pile of junk into the middle of the room, leaving a mound of mess, I slipped them into my backpack with ease. Retrieving an emergency poncho, a military sleeping bag along with an emergency sleeping bag, I found myself asking; is there anything else?I sighed and placed my hands on my hips for a moment before clueing in. _Water, things for cooking, cotton, and some sort of tinder and kindling, just in case. _I scrimmaged around my room for what I was looking for then organized it in my backpack. Tapping my foot and mindlessly biting my lip, I questioned if it was enough. I even had my paracord grenade and bracelet in which I had on me at all times.

My ear flicked, a knocking form the door scattered my thoughts. "Come in?"

Shadow opened the door and walked in carrying some fishing gear. "So I'm not sure what kind of fish they have but I brought several different lures and baits. One of them should work right?" He looked at my bag.

"Okay!" I cheered and grabbed my handgun, rifle, and bow. "We can hunt while we are there too!" My tail had begun to wag.

A small smile crossed him, "As you wish." He walked over to me and kissed my forehead. "However, you are aware that you cannot hunt with a pistol right?"

"Of course I know! That's just for protection, Shaddie." I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Well you don't need it. I'll protect you… No matter what." He gently nuzzled my neck sending shivers through my spine.

Smiling, I replied, "Well maybe I want to protect you too. Besides, it's more of a "rather have it and not need it then to not have and need" sort of thing." I grabbed my energy sword as well.

"Fine. Please do be careful though." He looked into my eyes and gently brushed my quills aside.

"I'll try to be. I tend to be a bit accident prone, so I won't make you any promises." I stared back into his crimson eyes.

"So now I have to protect you from yourself huh?" He dropped the fishing gear and swooped me into his arms. I felt my face go beat red, my hands quickly grabbing onto whatever part of him I could. "That can easily be arranged."

"Put me down. I don't need to be protected when I have two fists and a spirit to fight and live!" I whined.

"Hmm… Nah. I think I like you right here in my arms." He purred softly.

"Well at least let me finish packing… I'm going to bring food. I'm not sure what else I need…" I sighed softly and rested my head against his fluff. "Garbage bags… Toilet paper… Soap… Um…" I continued to think.

"You really like to be prepared, don't you?" I looked up at him and nodded. He gently set me down and allowed me to finish packing. "Ready?" He asked, once I was done.

I looked around and picked up my stuff. "I guess that's it…?"

"Alright. Let's put this in the Jeep. I'll Chaos Control us and the Jeep over to New Zealand." He picked up the fishing gear and took my rifle case.

We headed out to his Jeep and opened up the trunk. The back seats had been removed, creating a much larger storage space. It was easy to place and organize everything in the back. Soon completed, I looked over to Shadow and took his hand in mine.

"Good to go?" I asked.

"Good to go." He replied. "However," he continued, "what part of New Zealand; North Island or the south one?" He asked.

"The north one is warmer, so that one." It was a no-brainer.

Within a few moments, Shadow had conducted Chaos Control and the environment changed entirely. There was some foliage in which I was not familiar with; there was massive areas of rugged terrain, perfect for sheep and the like. It was beautiful; water was off in the distance, sparkling in the sun. It was as if we were on another planet, another world.

"Wow…" My mouth gaped open slightly for a few moments, taking in the serenity.

"Pick a spot, any spot, and we will make it out little nest. I assume you brought a tent?" He reached for my bag and opened it.

"Of course." I began scouting for a good camping area.

"Four person tent?" He examined it, trying to make out the faded text.

"Yes." I confirmed. "I've always enjoyed having lots of room in my tents. Since it was always just me, a four person tent was perfect for me, and my gear."

He slipped it out of my bag and then closed it up. He laid down the rather small bag the tent resided in down in the back of the Jeep. "So, just tell me where you want the spot to be and I'll move the jeep on over."

I nodded and walked to the more wooded area. After several minutes of nitpicking and visualizing, I picked out the perfect spot. "Right here." I stood in the middle of the area.

Shadow hopped in the Jeep, gently rolled it over to me, and parked right next to the area. He cut the engine and slipped out. I retrieved my tent and the two of us set up camp.


	6. Chapter Six

I laid down my sweater in the grass once the camp was finished. I then sat down and slowly laid back, staring at the sky. A small breeze went by, ruffling my quills, the warmth breathing into me. Closing my eyes, with a small sigh, I perked my ears up, listening to the distant wildlife; the birds dominated the air with their song-like cries.

"Now this-" I waved my hand around in the air to gesture to everything surrounding us. "Is camping, not to mention, a vacation." I let my arm flop to the ground.

"Yeah. This is nice… I don't think I've done anything like this in… well… a long time, perhaps, I never did do something like this." I heard his steps get closer until they were next to me. The light shifted and changed, allowing me to know that he sat next to me.

I slit open one of my eyes and looked at him. I looked at the golden glow that came from his skin, then looked at his eyes and watched them glisten in the light. I slowly grabbed a hold of his hand, pulling it closer to my body. He simply stared at me gently, with a small warm smile on his face. I studied his face, a smile forming on mine.

"You know… You're really cute when you smile." I pulled him down next to me and pulled my body closer to his.

"Perhaps… However, I'll never be as cute as you." He kissed me gently for a brief moment.

"Maybe." I snickered playfully.

He ruffled the quills on my head with a loving touch. "It's starting to get late. If we are going to hunt for our supper, we should do it now. Unless, of course, you want whatever food you brought."

I nodded and slowly sat up. "If there is partridge around here, I think I'd like to have that."

"Alright then." He stood and retrieved the weaponry as well as the ammunition. I took my weapon and loaded it up, he then did the same.

I wandered into the woods with him, using the sun to keep track of my direction. "You take one side, I'll take the other." I said, almost questioningly.

"Sounds good to me." He readied his weapon, almost as if he was on a mission.

I smiled slightly at this; _he__'__s taking it too seriously__…__ but it__'__s cute. _

We searched for at least twenty minutes before finding a partridge, calmly feeding off apples in the near distance. I glimpsed to Shadow, readying my weapon; he gave permission to proceed. I aimed, and then shot my .22; it dropped quickly- I suspected a head shot, right where I had aimed. I felt Shadow kiss my cheek gently.

A small purr emanated from me as I began to go over to the bird. I stared down at it for a moment then grabbed its legs and lifted it into the air. I looked at its feathers and just over its eyes discovering it was a female, regular partridge.

"Well, I have my food. Let's find you something." I placed the bird in a large pouch of my hunting vest that hung on my backside. He gave a firm nod.

We continued along our way until we found another partridge. It did not take too long for this. Shadow took his shot and hit it, causing it to flap violently for a few seconds until it settled into a still body that was now to be food.

We both pulled off some of the chest feathers before lying it down, stepping on its wings and pulling by its feet. The insides easily pulled out, leaving the wings and chest meat for us. The insides smelled a bit foul, but it did not bother me, nor did it seem to bother him. Retrieving our breasts, we started to head back to camp, a little bloodier than when we first set out.

We soon found ourselves back; I let Shadow clean the bird as I tended to the fire. Once I had one going I prepared an area for cooking, and I grabbed a bit of canola oil as well as a small frying pan.

"Sometimes, it pays to be over prepared." I looked at Shadow, then to the breasts. He had separated the tenderloin from the rest of the breast and cut the thick part of the breast in half for better cooking. He came over and began to cook. "You know, I could have done that."

"It's fine." He kissed my cheek, "I want to."

"Okay." I joyfully muttered, stretching out in front of the fire, enjoying the intense warmth of it.

I listened to the sizzling of the meat, noticing the gamey smell. Shadow soon nudged me gently and handed me my portion. I sat up and took it carefully. I blew on a small piece a few times before taking a small bite out of it. Flavour exploded in my mouth, the only thing I wished was that it was incredibly tender, and perhaps a bit juicier. I savoured the meal until the last bite.

"Did you enjoy it?" He asked. He had finished his meal long before me.

I nodded, "Should have been hanged for a bit, but it was yummy." I nuzzled my face into his shoulder. "Let's stay here for quite awhile… Like… I don't know… a week?"

He chuckled softly and wrapped an arm around me, pulling me a bit closer. "Of course." He kissed the top of my head.

"I'm happy that you accepted me so quickly… It's a bit strange. Thank you…" I rested my head against him, watching the fire dance, searching for small variances in colour. Soon feeling tired, I closed my eyes.

"Rest…" Shadow softly whispered.

Without much resistance, I obeyed, letting my mind as well as my body to relax. In due time my thoughts deteriorated, blissful sleep taking hold sending me into fantasyland.

I opened my eyes, realizing it was morning time. Shadow was asleep, his arms embracing me. I looked around us, noticing we were in the tent, and that he had gotten some blankets on top of us. I stared at him, watching the cool light fall on his skin and quills. He seemed so peaceful, so relaxed; it was very cute. The minutes passed as I watched him, soon pulling myself closer so I could absorb more warmth due to the cold creeping in.

"Mph…" Shadow began to stir. His eyes soon peaked open, staring into mine. I noticed the pale blue light radiate through his eyes.

He remained quiet, his arms tightening around my body, as he leaned his head forward. I felt our foreheads touch, his nose brushing up against mine before I felt his lips push against mine. I could feel my heart begging to pound erratically, my breaths shortening and quickening; the butterflies in my stomach fluttered about as I gently tugged on his lower lip. His hand firmed up along my lower back, his other running down along my side, goose bumps forming along my smooth body. His lips pushed against mine more, moulding with mine, his teeth gently pulling at my lower lip. I could tell that he wanted more, clearly intending to initiate the next level. I gently slipped my hand to his cheek and pulled my lips away. He looked at me, his eyes were soft, and delicate looking.

"I love you… but let's just relax a little bit… okay?" My voice was soft.

He slowly nodded. "And I love you."

"We should start up the fire again… I find it chilly." I slowly and dreadfully sat up, my quills standing on end to try to keep my body warm.

I heard Shadow chuckle, "Alright, my little vampire."

A slight blush formed on my cheeks. I crawled over to our bags and got some fire starting equipment. Once I had retrieved it, I went out and began to make a fire. I soon heard the zipper on the tent alerting me that Shadow was coming out of our little nest. My ear flicked and twisted, listening to him come closer until he was sitting next to me, his black quills peeking into my peripheral vision. I continued to put all of my focus into the fire. Soon enough I had a strong flame bursting forth, spreading, growing, and hungering. I fed it, watching the soft glow radiate, the warmth becoming overpowering to my sensitive face.

Strong arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me over onto a warm lap. I purred softly, looking up at Shadow, his head falling to rest on my shoulder, eyes closed. Smiling softly, I nestled, soon finding the perfect position. Closing my eyes, I enjoyed the smell of the fire as I let myself relax, wanting sleep to take hold again.

"Shadow…" I muttered after a little while. "Don't ever let me go…"

"I won't… I promise." He kissed my cheek gently, nuzzling gently after.

"… Thank you…" I gripped onto his fur, a sense of safety and reassurance overcoming me. He began to pet me as well as tenderly scratching my head. I simply enjoyed the sensation.

I opened my eyes and looked around. The sun was high in the sky, the fire out cold. _I must have dozed off__…_ I looked at Shadow; he had fallen asleep as well. I slowly slipped out of his arms and found my body a bit numb from my position, and not being in a proper bed.

"Mph…" Shadow curled up on his side, slightly disturbed from my movement. "Five more minutes…" He muttered softly, barely awake.

I snickered and slowly stood, brushing myself off. I stretched to the sky then stumbled forward while yawning. A warm breeze whipped my quills gently against my body. I sighed softly, enjoying the temperature; _it warmed up a lot._ _It__'__s so peaceful here__…_I reached for my water bottle and grabbed it, twisting the cap off, slightly cutting off part of the top layer of my skin. I drank from the bottle until my thirst was quenched. Glimpsing at the small cut, I checked to make sure I was not bleeding before disregarding it and placing the water back to where it belonged.

"Cat…" My ear flicked when Shadow spoke.

"Yeah sleepy head?" My eyes fell upon him, a small smile on my face.

"I… just wanted to hear you… to make sure that you were okay." I found myself flustered when he spoke those words.

"… Let's go fishing today." I pleaded gently.

"Okay… We can go in a bit… Just let me wake up some." He slowly forced himself to sit upright.

I prepared the gear despite that it was going to take awhile for him to wake up. I also grabbed a small snack, a chocolate bar mind you, but a snack none the less. I nibbled on a Reese's peanut butter cups and held one out for Shadow to take. He rejected so I set it down gently while I ate most of the chocolate off before setting the peanut butter middle on the wrapper.

"Do you not like peanut butter?" He looked at me weirdly.

"No, I love this peanut butter… I save it for last is all. I find that there is a bit too much chocolate so it ruins it some." My face was a light blush from being embarrassed.

"… You're very cute… and silly." He scooted over and kissed my cheek.

Leaning myself against his body, I finished my snack. "Me ready." I nuzzled his neck before reaching for the blue garbage bag and disposing of the wrapper.

"Mph… Alright." He stood and helped me to my feet.

I brushed myself off briefly before picking up the gear. Skimming the area, I wondered where we could fish; my eyes fell on Shadow for guidance, as he seemed to understand what I was thinking.

"I never came here before, so let's just find a river or lake near here, okay? If there's no fish there then we will just move on." His arm slipped around me and pulled me to his side. His other hand grabbed the bag the swung it over his shoulder.

Smiling, I nodded and let him lead the way, gently placing my hand over his. "You know… you're really sweet when you want to be." I glimpsed into his eyes, my voice filled with love.

He blushed lightly, keeping quiet as he continued to lead the way. My gut told me he did not believe my words. A soft sigh escaped through my lips, deciding to leave it alone for now, wishing only to try to have a good time, to see him happy.

His ear flicked; "Hmm…?" His ears perked up, he seemed to be listening carefully. "I think I hear water." He went towards the direction he believed the sound was coming from. I perked up my ears and could clearly hear it too.

We soon reached its source and sure enough, it was a source of water, a waterfall with a lake to be exact. Smiling, I reached for the bag that Shadow carried here and slid it off his shoulder. I could sense him smirking as I pulled out all that we needed.

"Eager?" I nodded to his question.

Once everything was set up, I cast my line into a calmer section of the water in hopes of catching fish. A glimmer of a fishing line caught my eye. Looking over at Shadow I saw him awkwardly trying to fish. A small giggle erupted from me. His eyes narrowed as he shot a small glare at me.

"What?" He asked not impressed. "I haven't really fished…"

"You just look so awkward with it… Although on second thought, it just makes you look cuter." His cheeks turned a dark red.

"Humph…" He grunted out, slightly turning away from me.

We sat there for several minutes gently swishing our rods in the air to move the lure, slowly reeling in the line little by little; it was calming and peaceful. It was not long before I was leaning myself up against Shadow for some support, my body not wanting to stay upright and tense.

His body shifted slightly, his head turning back to look at me. It was not too long before he resumed his previous position. I sighed when my lure popped out of the water with no bait on it. _Damn worms won__'__t stay on._ I put more bait on the hook, trying to ensure that the worm was securely attached to it this time. I gently tossed the line into the water once again.

"So… Do you think anything is in this body of water?" I asked Shadow.

"I'm not sure… either way though, nothing seems to be biting. Maybe we aren't using the right bait or lure?" He suggested.

"Pft, I dunno. I haven't fished in a long time. I just remember using a worm and a lure that looked like a fish." I sighed.

"That's helpful." He sarcastically said.

"Mph." I continued to swish the rod in random movements infrequently. "Even if we don't catch anything… It's still nice to sit here." He nodded a bit in response.

All of a sudden, I felt a harsh jerk on my rod, I quickly snapped up my rod to try to hook it in case it was a fish. I felt a lot of pull on the rod, it seems whatever it was, and it was still attached. I quickly began to reel it in, pulling back on the rod swaying it from side to side depending on the resistance.

Shadow had taken interest in what was going on and he had stopped fishing. I soon saw a shimmer just under the water approaching closer unwillingly. I smiled and soon had it close to the shoreline. Shadow quickly grabbed the net and scooped it up onto land.

A large salmon flapped about desperately trying to get back into the water, to escape our clutch. I quickly flipped out my knife, held the fish down, and cut into it right behind the head. Immediately it stopped flapping, blood poured out, and I removed it form the net. I struggled to get the hook out of the fish.

"Here." Shadow reached over and took it from me, then with ease, removed the hook.

"Thanks." I chirped happily. I then took the fish from him and cut open its gut then spilled everything into the water for other sea creatures to enjoy. No eggs came from the fish allowing me to assume that it was a male.

"We could have used that as bait." Shadow scoffed.

"Oh relax. It basically is. It will attract the other fish over. If we catch another we can save those guts." I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Fine… However, that fish is big enough to pretty much feed the both of us." Shadow stated.

"True… We could just catch and release now, or we could eat this guy and come back later for more if need be." I kissed his cheek.

"Let's go then. We don't need to harm something we don't intend on eating." He reeled in his line.

I washed the fish in the water then gathered up the gear. Shadow took the gear and the backpack but allowed me to carry my catch. We made our way back to camp, arriving there much sooner than I thought we would. It was good that we had a water source like that near by.

"I'll clean the fish and cut it up nice for us. I'll let you play with the fire." There was a small smile on his face. "I know how much you like your fire." He chuckled softly.

I began blushing, a smile forcing its way out on my face. "Okay." I handed him the fish once he put down the bag. I quickly went to the fire and took care of it, getting it to the perfect size. I broke out some cooking equipment and got the pan ready with a mixture of butter and canola oil.

"I'm ready when you are, my love." I chirped, looking back at him.

"Just a sec." He finished cleaning the fish then brought it over to me. Two large fillets were what he decided to do.

"Don't ya think that's a bit thick for this kind of cooking?" I asked gently. He just shrugged.

"Do you want me to cut them in half?" I nodded and he obeyed.

I began to cook them, not bothering with any spices. Shadow watched for a bit before asking; "Aren't you going to put like salt and pepper or something?"

"No… I can on your fish if you like. I'm not gonna put any on mine." I glimpsed at him.

"It's fine. If I need any I can add it later." He pat my head.

I began purring softly as I finished cooking the fish, cutting into one of them to make sure it was cooked all the way through. "Dinner is served."

I grabbed a couple of plastic plates and put one fillet on a plate then the other one on the other plate and handed Shadow one of them. I then got some metal utensils and began nibbling at my fish.

"Thanks." Shadow muttered quietly before eating happily. "This really doesn't need any seasoning."

"I know! It's so good!" I indulged myself into the food. "Wild salmon is the best salmon." I praised.

He chuckled and soon finished up; I was not too far behind him. He took the plates then washed them off along with the utensils we used. I curled up by the fire thoroughly satisfied. Shadow soon joined me and allowed me to use his lap as a pillow. He stroked my quills and gently twirled the tips of them with his fingers. I soon found myself quite tired. I let my eyes close, slowly letting myself fall into an unconscious state.

I woke to darkness surrounding me. I felt my head being lifted gently only to fall moments later. I moved my head to view Shadow's face, realizing my head was on his chest. He was staring up at the sky peacefully, his eyes lost, deep in thought. I too looked up at the sky; the most serene and beautiful sight was bestowed upon me. All the stars were out, nothing hiding them or shadowing them, the Milky Way could be seen. It even seemed to hold colour spiralling out from its center. Awe washed over me, my body becoming tingly, yet numb; there was amazement, curiosity, and love. A love for its beauty, its mysteries, its being. I could not bring myself to look away.

"It is quite incredible, isn't it?" Shadow muttered softly, realizing I was awake. "I haven't seen stars like this in a long while…" He kissed the top of my head.

"I've always enjoyed the stars… I always wanted to see them like this…" I smiled softly, "and now I get to see them with you."

He pulled me closer and kissed me gently for a few brief moments. "I love you… with all of my heart."

I found myself flustered; _he__'__s so cute._ I looked into his shimmering eyes, and deep down, I found that he spoke the truth. "I love you too… with all of my heart." I replied.

"Rest… you look tired." He pushed my head to his chest fluff. Silently obeying, I closed my eyes and focused on his heartbeat. It soon lulled me into a deep slumber.

I opened my eyes finding myself alone in the tent. I slowly crawled over to the door and opened it my head peeking out. "Shaddie…" I rubbed my eyes and squinted trying to see, my eyes not wanting to deal with the brightness.

"Hey… You're awake. Do you like eggs?" He looked over at me.

"I like the whites… hard boiled." I mumbled then curled up where I was. I closed my eyes.

"Any seasoning?" He asked.

"Salt…" I muttered softly. I adjusted my clothes to pad myself from the ground a little more.

After a bit I noticed a shadow in front of me followed by the smell of eggs, my eyes slit open my eyes to find a plate of egg whites sitting in front of me and Shadow sitting down by me outside the tent. I dragged myself up into a sitting position took the plate and began to eat the egg whites with my hands.

"Don't you want a fork or something?" He asked as he nibbled on his own meal.

I shook my head and quickly finished off my plate. I then slipped out of the tent and closed the door. I snuggled up against Shadow and closed my eyes again. I felt his arm wrap around me as he soon finished off his breakfast. I crawled into his lap and rested my head against his chest.

"So am I your bed now?" He chuckled softly.

I shrugged, "Mine…" I kept my eyes closed and listened to his heartbeat.

"All yours." He replied.

"… Mine…" I muttered a little quieter. He just held me closer and tighter.

"I'll never let you go." He whispered into my ear. Minutes later he asked, "So why have you been so tired lately? You seem to be sleeping a lot more than you normally would."

I shrugged, "Maybe it's because you relax me. Maybe it's because I can and I don't have to worry about doing anything, like work. I don't feel like I'm wasting the day, or my free time." He nodded. "I want to sleep for a long time…"

"Don't leave me alone." He spoke with a little concern in his voice.

"I won't. If I decide I want to sleep for a month you're coming with me, and I'm dragging you into my dreams." I smiled at him childishly. He just smiled back softly.

My ears perked up as I listened to our surroundings. "It's… so quiet all of a sudden."

He listened for a moment before responding, "You're right. It shouldn't be this quiet."

"When nature is dead quiet, or when it runs, I take that as a signal to make myself scarce." I looked at the sky. "It really doesn't seem like it's about to storm though. I can't even spot a single cloud." I then looked towards the sun briefly, my eyes watering; "There isn't any rings around the sun either… I wonder what it could be."

"I don't know… but I don't like it." He got up and started packing. "We should move."

I began helping him, "Where are we going to go?"

"Anywhere but here. Somewhere nature feels safe." He stuffed one of the bags into the back of the Jeep.


	7. Chapter Seven

We soon had everything packed up and tossed into the Jeep; Shadow grabbed onto my hand tightly and placed his other on the Jeep. "Chaos Control!" A bright light consumed us, and it faded just as fast.

I looked around curiously, wondering which area we had ended up in. "Angel Island?" I titled my head.

He smirked, "Yeah. It is. No one should bother us here as long as we stay out of sight, and don't approach the Master Emerald. If Knuckles finds us, I'll take care of him."

"Technically if there is a flying threat we aren't safe." I poked his nose playfully.

"True, but even then, I'll protect you." He grabbed my wrist and pulled me close.

Suddenly I felt him tickle my sides, without thinking, I smacked his arms away and slammed him into a tree. Once I realized what I had done I felt guilty, and I am sure I looked it too. "Don't tickle me…" I muttered.

He sighed softly, "… Sorry…" he gently brushed back the quills from my face. "Apology accepted." He could tell I was upset. He looked around for a moment. "Hm…?" He turned towards me for a moment. "Close your eyes for a sec."

I looked at him weirdly, "Why?" I asked.

"Just do it." With a moment's hesitation, I obeyed, wondering what he was scheming. I heard him walk away and then some rustling of vegetation off in the distance. After it stopped, footsteps came towards me and I felt something being placed in my quills. "There."

I opened my eyes and looked at him, "What did you do?"

He grabbed a small mirror and showed me my reflection. A huge beautiful blue and orange flower was holding back my bangs. It had bright yellow filaments with dark brown, yellow pollen dusted anthers. "Wow… it's so big and pretty. The colours are so intense…"

"And for once, I'll be able to see your face instead of your quills." I slowly pulled up my clothing to hide my face as much as I could. "Really Cat?"

I nodded and hid my face in his fluff. "I feel exposed when nothing is hiding my face, and I feel vulnerable."

"You have no reason to think that." He grabbed onto my shoulders and pushed me back enough to grab a hold of my chin and have me look up at him. He was blushing some. "All I see when I look… is your beauty…" He looked away, his face getting redder.

_ He must feel uncomfortable saying those things._ I could feel a burning sensation all across my face from blushing. "You're cute… but that sorta sounded cheesy." I stuck out my tongue. _This is starting to get a little awkward. I__'__m thinking about it too much._

He looked at my tongue. "You better put that away before I decide to do something with it."

I slipped it back and intended on remaining a good girl, or at least for a little while. My ears perked up when I heard a twig snap not too far from us. I turned around to see a familiar face. _Knuckles? Well this visit was short lived__…_

"What are you doing here Shadow?" Knuckles asked, clearly annoyed, as usual.

"None of your business." Shadow growled lowly, pushing me behind him.

I sighed and held onto him. "Look, Knuckles, we don't mean any harm, or trouble okay?" I wanted to try and avoid conflict.

"You both don't belong here." He sternly said, "If you're here for the Master Emerald you can forget about it!"

"We can be here if we want to be." Shadow spat out at him.

"We don't want any Emeralds, including the Master Emerald." I tugged on Shadow's quills as a dog would to try to tell him to stop without using words. He looked back at me briefly.

"Leave, before something follows you, or finds you here. I don't need any more attention being brought to this Island." Knuckles growled.

Shadow looked more pissed off. I knew if I did not do something, they were bound to fight. Without much delay, I pulled Shadow close enough to the Jeep and grabbed a hold of it; with haste, I Chaos Controlled without much thought. "I don't want you fighting! I don't need to see you get hurt!" I scolded him.

He scoffed, "Fine…" I could sense there should have been a _'__for now__'_ at the end of that. I grumbled under my breath. After a few moments of silence, Shadow quickly broke it, "Um… Cathy? Where are we?"

"Huh?" I looked around finding that there were only plains of grass surrounding us in all directions as far as the eye could see. "I… I don't know…"

"You must, you are the one who used Chaos Control."

"But… I don't know… or at least I don't remember this place…" Puzzled, I tried to search for any memories of this land. I breathed deeply to see if my olfactory sense could aid me, in the end I got no closer. I shook my head some, "I got nothing."

"Well, since we are here, we might as well investigate a little bit… It really doesn't appear to have anything in this area though." He peered at the sky. "We may want to do it tomorrow though… There is only five hours left in the day here, we should make camp, find what we can for fuel, and rest for the night. We'll eat whatever you happened to have packed, hunting here may prove difficult unless you happen to like snake, which I doubt you do."

"Never tried snake, but, unless I'm starving, I'm not big on the idea of eating one. Not right now anyways." I sighed then started to prepare for the night with Shadow's aid.

"I'm not tired." I was staring at the night sky. Time seemed different here, off somehow.

"I'm not either… There's something strange with this place. I just… cannot seem to figure out what." He shook his head. "It's driving me nuts. The energy of this place… It's out of control, like there is a disruption in the space-time."

"I know what you mean. It should be day still, well at least… that's how it feels. Like maybe anywhere from three to five in the afternoon? But it looks like midnight." I kept staring deeply into the limitless canvas of space.

"I think I would have rather stayed where nature would not." He started to pet me. "This place sickens me."

"You saying that makes me feel sick." I looked into his eyes. "I wanna go back home, to GUN. It felt safe there… I also want to find out why we ended up here."

"I know." He rested his head on top of mine carefully. "At least your Chaos Control energy is about where it is supposed to be."

"Hm? Oh! Yeah. It is. Kinda forgot about that actually." A shooting star flew across the sky causing a small gasp of awe slip past my lips.

Shadow snickered, "Make a wish, my love."

_ What do I wish for?_ I thought for a few moments; _I wish that Shadow and I can live peacefully together._ I smiled softly. "No one shall take you away from me!" I cheered happily.

"And no one shall take _you _away from _me_." He growled lovingly.

I purred lowly and darkly. With one swift movement, I pinned him down with his hands above his head, making him vulnerable. I kissed from his chest to his neck then to his soft lips. He kissed back with passion despite the small growls that came from him. I smiled playfully and growled back, my tail swaying.

"I'll get you back, just wait." He had a smug look from his devious planning, clearing wanting to take back and maintain his dominance.

"I look forward to it, my handsome, sexy, black hedgehog." I chirped; kissing his neck again, I began to leave little nibble love marks wherever my lips touched.

"Mph…" He relaxed and exposed his neck more; this just caused my grin to widen.

I purred seductively. _All mine!_ I cheered in my head excitedly, my tail beginning to wag uncontrollably. A few tears began to roll down my cheeks. "I love you so much!" I nuzzled his chest.

"Is everything okay?" He saw my tears and became concerned.

I nodded.

"Then why are you crying?" He slipped out of my grasp and sat up, swiftly holding me close and wiping away my tears.

"I'm really happy that I have you. I'm even happier that you love me, and I'm happy that I can toy with you however I wish." I ran my hand from his side to his firm chest.

He sighed in relief then kissed me tenderly, keeping his hand loosely on my cheek, the other along my side. He soon rested his head on my shoulder, against my neck. I wrapped my arms around him tightly. _He__'__s so warm and solid__…__ I feel safe like this._ He laid back, pulling me down with him, but kept me close in his arms.

"You've had enough excitement for tonight… Focus on resting now." He closed his eyes.

I pouted, "Fine… I'll just have all the fun and excitement I want in my dreams." He smirked and chuckled some.

"Fine. I'll be sure to be in your dreams to stop it then." I smiled some.

"I'll be waiting for you then." I snuggled up against him as close as I could manage, while remaining in a comfortable position. I shut my eyelids and drifted off into slumber within a couple of hours.

The light lit up the inside of the tent as if its windows and doors were open, despite that they were not. I looked around for Shadow but there was no sign of him. I slipped on my shoes and slipped my head out of the tent. "Shaddie…?" I called out half-asleep-like. I listened and waited a few minutes. No reply. "Shadow?" I tried again, louder this time. Still no response. I quickly slipped out of the tent and looked all around the tent and off into the distance for him; still there was no trace of him. Panic settled deep in the pit of my stomach, my breathing quickening, the sickness taking a firm grasp on me. I had to sit, I was becoming light headed; I felt abandoned, not to mention worried for his safety.

_ Where did you go__…__?_ I pulled my knees against my chest, my hands shaking uncontrollably. _I need to get a hold of myself__…__ He__'__ll come back soon__…__ Right?_ _Why do I feel like this?_

I concentrated on my breathing, keeping it constant and steady until I began to calm. Once I had achieved that, I searched the tent for any notes to no avail. My stomach growled soon after, allowing me to realise I was ravenous. I took out some pasta and Kraft parmesan cheese in a plastic container, a little camp stove, a bit of butter, some salt, and cooked myself a meal. I devoured it within minutes of it being complete.

I looked around again, wondering if Shadow had returned, but he was still absent. I sighed and cleaned up my mess swiftly. _Where are you Shadow?_ _I wonder if I should look for him__…__ What if he comes back while I__'__m out looking? I__'__ll miss him completely and he will probably start looking for me. It might be better if I stay put__…__ What if he__'__s injured and needs me?_ I slowly stood._ I__'__ll look around for a bit._ I began searching the tall grass in hopes of finding him.

As the hours passed I found nothing, no footprints, and no trails, not even a snake path. _What is with this place? I__'__m lucky I found an insect in here, even if it was just the one__…_ Something came to mind then; _What if I summoned him with my powers?_ I slipped back to the tent and sat down, my legs crossed, hands clapped together. I closed my eyes and focused on his image, his voice, his smell; a bright light formed in front of me, dragging Shadow from wherever he had been to my current location. The light fizzled out shortly after. I peeked opened my eyes to find him standing before me.

"You could have just called me… Couldn't you have gone a few minutes without me?" He pat my head.

"Minutes? It's been a few hours!" I glared at him, "You could have left me a note or something, and I thought you were hurt, I didn't know if you would come back, I didn't know where to find you!" My body started shaking again.

"I haven't even been awake for a few hours. It's been maybe thirty minutes?" He crouches down to my level.

"Not according to my watch…" I tried to hide my unsteady hands.

He stared at me for a few minutes. "You remember how I said something was off about this place?"

"Yeah…" I muttered.

"Well, this place seems to be a bubble of a different universe, of a different time. About 1000 yards out from here in each direction there is an invisible 'wall' that allows any object to pass through into this place. Almost like the zones on Mobius." He tried to explain.

"So… everything in this 'bubble' is different or perceived differently from our original world outside of the 'bubble'?" I asked.

"Basically. So I guess what was a half hour to me was a few hours to you. I'm sorry for worrying you." He grabbed my hand gently and placed something in it.

I looked at my hand and he removed his allowing me to see what he had placed. An old, large, flat coin or unknown origins laid there. Its markings were worn and hard to make out. "Cool." I examined it closer. "Do you know where it's from?" I asked.

"No, but I figured you'd like it. I found it in the grass." He smiled softly.

"Of course I like it! It is an old coin! Like buried treasure!" My tail had begun wagging.

"You want to go treasuring hunting someday?" He asked me.

"Hell yes!" I replied, definitely excited about the possibility.

"Then we will do it someday. I'll need to research some before we do anything to dangerous, not to mention we need to find the actual location first, and if there is still any loot to be found." He brushed his fingers along my cheek.

I tackle hugged him in glee, "I love you!" I exclaimed.

He chuckled, "I love you too."

"So…" I looked into his eyes, "we should probably leave this place before we find ourselves stuck."

"Yeah I suppose. It is possible that this land is only here for a brief moment in time. So I suppose, we shouldn't dawdle here for much longer." He kissed my cheek and packed up swiftly.

"You learned how to pack efficiently and fast pretty quickly." I muttered and went to the jeep; there was no point in trying to help him.

"We could go back to GUN for awhile." He slipped everything into the Jeep effortlessly.

"Okay. Doing a mission or two might be nice." I held onto his hand when he finished, my fingers slipping between his.

"I suppose, but… it would depend on what kind of mission, considering your work is different than mine." He used his Chaos Control to bring us to our decided destination.

"I'll do my own thing… okay? You shouldn't know what I do, and you shouldn't see me like that." I ran my hand along the rim of the vehicle.

"Then who is going to protect you?" Concern in his voice was evident.

"Me, myself, and I." I poked his nose to try to lighten the mood and direct the uncomfortable sensation away. He sighed softly. "Come on, let's go put away our gear." I urged him, grabbing my bags.

"… Okay." He took his own and obeyed.


	8. Chapter Eight

Once everything was placed where it belonged, I collapsed onto my bed. My ear perked up and twisted to the side as Shadow came over and crawled in next to me. His hand firmly grasped mine as he shifted his weight into me. He stared deeply into my eyes, both of us remaining silent. I found myself becoming relaxed, his body temperature warming me. I shifted myself closer, absorbing more of the warmth he emitted. His head came to rest on my chest, his arms now wrapping around my waist.

"I don't want to lose you on a mission… it's safer for you here." He murmured into my chest. He shifted his muzzle to my neck and kissed it a few times tenderly.

"I know." I started petting him; each kiss had sent shivers through my spine. "I don't want to lose you either, you know?" He nodded some. I sighed softly, my hand continuing its rhythm of petting.

The room was swiftly ensued by silence. I relaxed and rested my head just above his; allowing myself to envelope myself in this peaceful moment I found my heart pounding quite hard, butterflies daring to float around my stomach. A weak smirk worked its way out of me; _looks like I__'__m still capable of feeling like this__…__ I thought this would have been something I__'__d eventually outgrow._

I moved slightly to get a good view of Shadow's face. His eyes were closed gently; his breathing was soft and steady, body limp. _He__'__s asleep._ I carefully pulled the thick, soft sheets over us, not wanting to wake him, and not wanting him to be cold either. I pressed my lips against the top of his head; "Sweet dreams…" I breathed out, whispering it into the still air. I then laid there for a few hours simply watching him sleep with the occasional twitching from his dreams.

My body and mind were numb, nothing but darkness surrounded me, the only thing else was the bouncing thoughts that floated in the empty spaces of my mind.

_ That dream was weird__…__ being kidnapped with a bunch of other kids. Humans too. Why were we all human__…__?_

_ That one girl could see the future, and there were strange creatures too, - animals walking on two legs, _**with**_ clothing._

_ There were woods everywhere__…__ I was running before we were caught__…__ were we searching for one another, or was I the only one searching, gathering, the others?_

_ Gathering the kids__…__ why? Were they even kids? Or were they young adults, like me?_

_ Young adult__…__ eighteen through twenty-five or so__…__ right?_

_ Perhaps._

_ Is that how old I really am?_

_ How should I know when this was all just a dream__…__ wasn__'__t it?_

Silence lingered for a brief moment.

_ That girl said we were gonna die when we were all thrown into that vehicle. We were all on the floor__…__ the seats were folded up surrounding us all__…_

_ I was so scared. When they slammed down the seats on us repeatedly, I thought we were going to die then, there, just like that girl said._

_ So scared__…__ So much fear__…__ Can__'__t die, not now__…__ I must hide the tears. I need to hide the fear. _

_ I__'__m afraid of the pain__…__ The pain that comes with death._

_ Death._

_ Pain._

_ Fear._

_ Silence._

_ The unknown._

_ Never being found._

_ I need to be rescued__…_

_ My phone__…__ They didn__'__t take it. I must hide it._

_ The phone is bright. I must not use it. _

_ I need to contact him, I need to contact help, the one that leads the military. He must help me. He will help me__…__ he will save me right?_

_ He wouldn__'__t let me die would he?_

_ Save me!_

_ "__Sleep.__"_ I obeyed.

_ The sun__…__ it__'__s bright. _

_ Are they watching?_

_ No they are driving. I must text him now. _

_ What if they see?_

_ They won__'__t. The phone won__'__t illuminate anything. _

_ Signal, signal, signal! Come on!_

_ Yes!_

_ '__Kidnapped. Need help. In a black van. Track my phone.__'_ The text was sent.

_ Please respond._

_ The notifications! Silent only._

_ Thirty percent battery._

_ Battery set to __'__battery saving mode__'__._

_ Hurry__…__ hurry__…__ hurry__…_

_ Must hide phone._

_ The van it stopped. Were we caught?_

_ I. Was I._

_ Please respond._

_ "__Water, food, bathroom.__"_The voice from earlier demanded.

Vague images of water collecting and drinking flashed through my mind; however, the image of drinking the water with the life straws seemed to be the only true image that seemed to stay in my head.

_ Are we going to die now?_

_ No. _

_ They are loading us back into the van. It__'__s mid-day._

_ That brown haired kidnapper__…__ her hair is so short._

_ She is familiar, but how?_

_ Is it one of his agents?_

_ Please._

_ He sent help! He responded!_

_ Don__'__t get found out._

_If she is found out, I__'__m done for. If she is found out__…_

_ We will all meet our deaths sooner rather than later._

_ He won__'__t let that happen._

_ Why would he risk the military for you?_

_ I__…_

_ I__…_

My voice slowly faded out, the bitter quiet consuming me. Each bump instilled the seeds of fear deeper.

_ We stopped._

_ Black is all there is beyond the window._

_ Were those windows always there?_

_ That woman!_

_ The one he sent._

_ She is out there. I feel it._

_ "__Sleep time.__"__, _another voice called.

_ It__'__s so cold. I can__'__t stop shaking._

_ Stay still. The door, it opened._

_ I__'__m asleep. I__'__m asleep. I__'__m asleep. Don__'__t get caught. Don__'__t get caught. Don__'__t get caught._

_ Phone. Phone. Phone._

_ Stay still._

A blanket was placed over me. I jerked, fear stabbing at my heart, spreading through my body with the blood in my veins. The agent placed a finger over her lips. She then left me, only the warmth of the blanket remained.

_ A note._

_ She snuck a note!_

_ Read it. Carefully. _

_ Can__'__t get caught. _

_ '__Message received. Doing all that can. Dispose of this carefully.__'_

_ How?_

_ No where to hide it._

_ Eat it._

_ No!_

_ Eat it._

_ But__…_

_ Fine. Get us caught. Get us killed. It__'__s not just you in this situation. There are five others._

_ Five__…_

_ The door. Quick, hide the paper._

_ Sleep__…_

_ …_

_ The sun, it__'__s rising._

_ The paper; quickly!_

_ It tastes horrible._

_ Suck it up. You__'__re alive, and so are they._

_ Gun fire!_

_ The agent._

_ We__'__re fucked._

_ No._

_ I__'__m scared._

_ He will send another one. He will save us._

_ No he won__'__t. Why would he? We are a few nothings._

_ They are everything. The military saves many, not few._

_ We are few. We are dead._

_ He must. He must__…__ He must__…__ He will._

_ You may say that, our heart says otherwise._

_ I__'__m scared. I don__'__t want to die__…_

_ Hide it under the carpeting. _

_ Don__'__t notice!_ The phone slipped snugly under the carpeting of the van, resting between some metal.

_ Those men. They are searching._

_ Searching__…__ Don__'__t find it._

_ If they find it we are dead._

_ We can__'__t die._

"Cat… You awake…?" Shadow quietly called to me.

"Mmmph…" I groaned into the pillow. The numbness of my body and mind turned into a dull ache that smothered my energy.

"You okay?" Worry had filled his voice.

"Weird dream…" I mumbled into the pillow.

"I'll get you something." The weight on the bed shifted, the mattress sprang up once the extra weight had been taken off.

_ Was it really a dream?_ I asked myself for a brief moment.

"Here. Some orange Tang and a chocolate bar. Your perfect way to start a morning." Shadow's voice called out to me, tugging my mind away from the lingering dream world.

I took it and sipped the Tang. There was half the amount of water recommended for the packet. _Just how I like it_. I then curled into a sitting position and nibbled away at the chocolate until it was completely devoured. I finished off the Tang shortly after.

"Any better?" He asked.

I nodded some, and tried to smile at him reassuringly.

After a moment, he decided to ask, "Do you want to talk about it?"

I shook my head in response, "It's hazy now anyways."

Sprawling myself back onto the bed, the sheets tugging away from my body, I squinted to the window, sunlight lit up my eyes catching each fleck of colour brilliantly. With a deep breath, I let my eyelids shut, red illuminating my sense of sight. I let the air slip out of me slowly, my heart beat following suit. The warmth from the fiery ball spread throughout my body, begging me to stay and soak it up as much as I could. With another shift of the mattress on either side of me, I peeked my eyes open to discover Shadow hovering over me. His eyes bore into my own; _what is he searching for?_ He leaned down and kissed my forehead before resting his body against mine.

With a soft sigh, I began petting him. His quills smoothed out and seemed to become softer, silkier, with every stroke. My ear perked up when a low rumbling purr could be heard from him. His face nuzzled into my chest, his purring only growing louder. I did not want to ruin this moment; I wanted it to last until the end of days. I wrapped my arms around his solid body, my fingers still persistently stroking his quills. The clocked ticked away; seconds to minutes, minutes to hours, whether or not we had realized it, the afternoon was closing in on us.

"What would you do if I ever went missing? If something bad had happened and I couldn't return to you for whatever reason?" I asked unexpectedly.

Shadow's brow scrunched up, "I would never stop looking for you until I found you and rescued you." he stated simply. "I'm aware that you can't die, so no matter how long… no matter how many years- decades- centuries, I would never stop looking. I will protect you." His words were aggressive, venomous to whoever may dare try to take me away from him.

I smiled softly, "Thank you, for being so determined to keep me in your arms. I hope that you can keep that determination over time- if anything did happen that is."

"I lost Maria and the Professor… I will not let anything, or anyone, take you away from me too." His eyes hardened, the cold determination in his eyes imbedded in them, the fire of his sheer will grew stronger.

My smile growing stronger, however faintly, I breathed out and muttered, "I adore you."

His grip on me tightened, pulling me incredibly close to him. "I could never live with myself, could never forgive myself, if I let something happen to you."

"I know… and that part scares me. I don't want you miserable for something that was out of your control. I don't want you to blame yourself for something you didn't do. But just me saying that won't stop you from doing so, if something ever did happen." I snuggled up against him; his chest fluff tickled my nose. "Perhaps you could say it would be likewise for me… but I think you would be a lot harder on yourself, because of ARK…" I took in his scent.

The air stilled as we settled, neither of us speaking anymore. I could still sense the determination off Shadow. Faint footsteps began approaching from outside the hall. I could barely pick up on them until they were only a few feet away. With a couple more taps, a few knocks emitted from the other side of the doorway.

I sighed softly, glancing at Shadow. He seemed to understand and his grip gave way, his arms pulling away from me. I stood and answered the door only to find a familiar, old, face. I stared at him with slight annoyance; his eyes glanced from me, to around the room, stopping at Shadow for a moment, then back to me.

"I have a mission for you. It's a more urgent matter involving an incident that happened about two years ago." Abraham Tower spoke sternly.

I glanced back at Shadow for a moment, "Okay. Whatever it is, I'm taking Shadow with me." Shadow looked slightly relieved, but he was still uneasy about the thought of going out to the field.

Abraham came in, closing the door tightly, and then shut all the blinds. He turned around, his hands falling to a resting position behind his back, one of his hands clutching around the other. "Do not speak a word of this until your mission has been completed." He looked at us both.

In turn, Shadow and I looked to one another then nodded at Abraham. "Aren't you being a little paranoid though?" I asked, slightly amused at his cautiousness.

"I have my reasons for it. Now for the matter at hand. Now, two years ago, just before you arrived here, Cathy, there was a kidnapping of children. The ages ranged anywhere form fifteen to twenty. All these children were connected to assets of GUN. One of the children I happened to have close contact with, and she, while being held captive, managed to contact me. It was by text over the phone. I had sent in an agent, however shortly after she had infiltrated herself into the group, she had been discovered and killed. No kidnapper had ever asked for ransom money, nor did they even send threats to us." He explained simplistically, and quickly.

"Okay… so…? What does that have to do with this mission, now?" I led on. I glanced to Shadow whom looked a bit grim.

"Well, another group of children went missing, and there are tell-tale signs that it is the same group that attacked about two years ago. The children from two years ago, all but one was found dead. They were killed in a sacrificial fashion. I need you two to stop this from happening again." Abraham stared at me, the blood in my face rushed out.

"You're kidding right?" I grumbled. He shook his head. "What are we to do with the kidnappers?" I sighed, trying to will the blood back into my skull.

"Capture, kill- I don't care. As long as they are taken care of, and the children are saved. Last time a demon had appeared for a brief time. If this is another attempt at summoning that creature, it makes it all the more important to stop this. That demon was not fully brought back last time, if it were to be fully resurrected this time…" He trailed off, genuinely concerned for the future world at hand.

I nodded, "We better not fuck up then, huh?" Abraham just gave a small wryly smile.


	9. Chapter Nine

Shadow and I geared up, organizing ourselves for the perilous mission before us. Once we were ready to go, I looked over and asked him; "How do you propose we engage them? We obviously don't want them to catch our tail, and we don't want them to suspect anything."

He smirked, "Technology has changed, even if it was only a measly two years. GUN has been working on, and recently has successfully developed cloaking devices. Not just for the soldiers, but for the road and aircraft vehicles as well." His dark voice was smug; a slight twinkle in his eye could be seen.

"Oh yeah… I forgot they were working on that." I stretched my body. "Not that I needed it. I am all powerful." I bragged, now being the smug one.

"Humph… Don't forget, I am still the Ultimate Life Form." He folded his arms.

Abraham cleared his throat, his arms crossed. _How long was he standing there for!?_ The thought flew into my mind abruptly. "Are you children ready?" He scowled, not amused with our childish dispute.

I cleared my throat a little, "Yes sir." I muttered quietly, feeling like a middle school student who has been sent to the principles office for the first time. Shadow had done the same.

"Good. Now, I have a satellite visual on them, so we will know where they are at all times, unless they go under ground. At this point, it will be faster by plane to catch up to them, and we will have a small, lightweight vehicle in it for when you land. Both have cloaking technology built into them. We already have the aircraft set up, and currently tracking the whereabouts of their vans." He briefed us. "Now, go save those children."

Shadow nodded and grabbed my hand, pulling me along. He knew exactly where to go; quickly finding ourselves at the aircraft, he helped me in then hopped in himself. He took the drivers seat and initiated the take off sequence.

"I didn't know you could fly." I looked out the window of the aircraft.

He sneered, "After all, I am the Ultimate Life Form."

"Down there, those black vans." Shadow motioned to the visual he had on them.

I nodded, "I see them." I glanced around with haste. "Over there," I pointed, "there is a clearing to set this baby down."

He took my direction and gently eased us to the ground. I unlatched the door to our next ride, a black, sleek, motorcycle with a shield raised up over the seat and above the seat. The wheels were missing the metal plating, thus leaving a hole in the circular rubber band. It was not the best "undercover" vehicle I could have asked for, but I did enjoy the look of the bike.

"You're the reason our cover is going to be blown. You requested a motorcycle didn't you?" I grumbled at Shadow, despite my initial liking of the style of bike.

"I won't draw any attention to us." He slipped himself in and helped me into the seat.

"This thing _is begging_ for eyes to be laid upon it!" I motioned to the bike and stroked along the sides of it. "You don't even have to try to get attention by driving like a bad-ass, this does it _for you_." He chuckled and started up the engine. It was much quieter than I had expected.

"Good thing this is made for speed. If they do notice, they will not escape." The bike burst forward; I instinctively clutched onto Shadow, my fingers digging into him, my knuckles white.

"Just **don****'****t** crash." I whimpered, the air almost making my voice inaudible. I clicked on my communicator, as well as Shadow's.

I could tell he was smirking as he spoke, "Will do." He seemed to hesitate for a moment, "Promise me, please, that you won't get hurt."

I sighed softly, "You know, that even if I wanted to, I could never truly promise you that on a mission."

"Please." He begged.

I thought for a moment, then obliged. "I promise you, Shadow, that on this mission, I will not get harmed. Not even a quill on my body will receive the tiniest of scratches." The tone of my voice was bordering on sarcastic.

"Next time, make it sound a little more believable." He grunted, setting sights on our targets. I felt his muscles tense, his shoulders stiffened.

I recognised that he began taking this seriously. A tiny flame of fear sparked inside of me triggering my heart to pound against my chest. I took a deep breath and slowly eased it out of me, wishing my worries out. "What about you, Shadow? Are you going to promise me you will make it out okay?"

He relaxed a little, his knuckles regaining a bit of colour in them, "I always make it out okay… and now that you are here, I have all the more reason to make sure I'm okay… for you."

"Love made you soft and gushy." I smiled.

His cheeks turned red, "Shut up." He ordered, before groaning, "I don't need a reminder." I giggled softly, turning my eyes to the black vans ahead.

Stillness washed over me, becoming genuinely calm, my eyes became fixed on my target. My breathing evened out; _I__'__m ready._

It was quite dark out when they pulled down a hidden road. We kept our distance, cautiously following them through the road. It was just big enough to fit their vehicle through, although the branches of the trees did smack and drag along the sides of it. I peeked at the navigation system Shadow was using to find our whereabouts. It was a place in which I was not familiar with; however, it felt as if I have been here before. It screamed at the edges of my mind. Weakness washed over me for a moment, my eyesight and mind becoming hazy, numb.

"Cat!" Shadow called my name, fretting over my sudden condition changes.

It snapped me back to reality just in time to regain my grip on him, saving myself from falling off the bike. My breath caught in my throat for a moment before they returned, only heavier than they originally were. I looked to the ground realizing that Shadow had stopped the momentum of the bike.

"Look at me." His tone turned deadly, cold. I slowly slipped my eyes to his, unwilling to face him. I had no explanation for him, nor was I fully aware of what had happened myself.

"I…" I started, but no words came.

"What's going on?" Each word held need in it, a need for information, a need to know that I would be okay.

I just slowly shook my head. "I don't know. Let's keep going, those kids need us."

He just remained as is for a moment, silence taking over for a few brief moments. "… Just remember you promised, _promised_, that you would be okay." With that, he built up the bike's momentum once more.

A rock of dread sat deep in the pit of my stomach. I felt myself beginning to shake, the feeling of illness taking over. I began sweating, my breathing hastened, becoming heavier. I swallowed hard, the voices from my dream bickered with one another, the vague images flashed in my mind once more. It was all too fast to grasp, to understand. I felt the soft touch of hands rest on my shoulders.

"Stay here." I heard Shadow say.

All of a sudden his words were nearly forgotten, his image formed into a haze of black also becoming distant and fake in my mind. I seemingly fell backwards, cold metal shocking my senses briefly, only to be consumed in the depths of my own maze once more. The once sporadic thoughts began to align, forming in a clear path that made some sort of **sense**. A few insignificant memories flooded me, some of the earliest of them: early birthdays, Christmas, Halloween, and Easter. The more personally important ones began to dawn upon me.

_ "__Who was that hedgehog you were talking to?__"__ I asked, curious about the black and red Mobian whom saved my dad__'__s life. _

_ "__His name is Shadow. He works at GUN, like I do.__"__ He replied and scratched the side of his short, greying beard._

_ "__Does he do what you do?__"__ I looked back to where the hedgehog had been a few moments ago._

_ "__Not exactly__…"__ He sighed, not really wanting to discuss it._

_ "__But he is good right? He saved you. I thought you said that the Mobian people weren__'__t good people.__"__ I looked into my father__'__s eyes. They were red with exhaustion. _

_ "__It__'__s not that simple.__"__ These words only left more questions than answers in my curious mind. It seemed like he was about to explain what he had meant, but quickly disregarded it. __"__How about we get you to bed? It__'__s almost nine-thirty, and it__'__s already dark.__"__ He picked me up, swinging me over his shoulders. _

_ I held onto his head, each leg resting on either of his shoulders. I whined a little, __"__Okay__…"__ My lip hanged out, clearly forming a pout. I looked out the window for a brief moment, catching what I thought to have been a glimpse of the Mobian, Shadow, but that glimpse disappeared as fast as it had come. I found my heart pounding, and butterflies flew around my stomach. I remember questioning myself; why?_

_ The snow crunched under my feet; large, fluffy flakes of snow floated to the ground such as a down feather would. I sighed, my breath creating a little cloud instantaneously before it dispersed. A small, narrow clearing came up ahead. I smiled, happy to be out of the densely clustered trees. _

Why did Daddy never let me come out in the woods? There is nothing dangerous out here at all!_ I thought to myself, taking a walk along the narrow clearing._

_ Suddenly, I heard a loud cracking sound. My instincts jolted through my entire body letting me become aware that nothing __**good **__would come of this. Two things fluttered around in my head: _Move **carefully**, or stay **still**. _Not being able to decide fast enough, I ended up staying still, however fate was not in my favour. The ice gave out from underneath me, I felt the shocking cold slip up past my head; I could not breath, I could not move, my heart skipped a couple beats from the fear settling in. The dim light above me started to fade; the dark below had begun devouring me. A silhouette formed from the dim light above me before everything had faded into pure darkness._

_ I coughed and gasped, my throat burned while the rest of my body was frozen and slow. Once the water from my body was out, I could hoarsely breathe. I looked around some finding myself with a black hedgehog, shivering just as much as I was. He pulled me into his arms before standing, carrying me in a bridal-style fashion. After a few minutes, I realized he was taking me back home._

_ I thought carefully for the time it took him to reach my home; __"__You__'__re Shadow__…__ right?__"__ I asked, recalling a memory from my earlier childhood._

_ He just nodded, __"__You should have never gone into the woods. Not alone__…__ your father will be furious.__"_

_ He kicked open the door and stepped in. He pushed the door shut with his back and sat me down on the living room couch. He found his way to the bathroom and grabbed a couple of towels, one for me, the other for him. I took it and enjoyed what little source of heat it had._

_ "__Go dry yourself and get changed into something dry. I__'__ll start a fire. Come to it when you are ready.__"__ His order towards me was gentle, somehow._

_ I followed his order, going to my room and undressing, drying myself, then changing into dry clothing. I tossed the soaked clothing and winter wear into the hamper then went to our fireplace. I had arrived to a large, warm fire; Shadow was curled up next to it, mostly dry._

_ I curled up next to him. __"__Thank you__…__ for saving me.__"__ He grunted._

_ I sighed softly, and closed my eyes. I started to nod off and found myself fall against him. His arm just wrapped around me. I found myself flustered as I noticed his muscular form. I forced a normal breath out, and inhaled the next one with great control over it. That same feeling from the following years when I had first discovered him had returned. The butterflies, and increased heart beat- everything was just as it was then, only he was next to me now. I became enthralled in the notion of feelings stirring within. Those feelings, however, did not hold off sleep. Soon enough I was lulled into a warming slumber, along with the weak sensation of a second arm wrapping around me._

_ The next morning I found myself in my bed feeling perfectly fine. I was not too warm and I was not frozen as I had been. I slowly sat up, just in time for my father to walk in. He sighed in relief, rushing over and embracing me; I slowly returned the hug, waiting for him to scold me. The hug lasted for several minutes before he finally pulled away. He looked upset._

_ "__I thought I told you the forest was dangerous! If Shadow had not of been there__…__ I would have lost you.__"__ His eyes were on the brink of having tears in them. _

_ "__I__'__m sorry. It was just so pretty outside, and I always wanted to see what it was like there.__"__ My innocent words stabbed into him like daggers. He embraced me tightly once more._

_ "__Don__'__t ever do that to me again.__"__ He pleaded. I nodded, wrapping my arms around him tightly. __"__I love you.__"__ He whispered._

_ "__I love you too, Daddy.__"__ I muttered into him softly._

_ My father__'__s arm was wrapped around me gently. He had a meeting with Abraham Tower and refused to let me be alone at home for however many hours it could take. He sat me down in a chair not too far from Abraham__'__s office. He pat my head then walked in, closing the door behind him. I watched Abraham shut the blinds to his office. I sighed and stared down at my shoes. They were black and purple; the laces were worn and starting to unravel. I heard some slight __'__taps__'__ of shoes hitting the floor. They were approaching._

_ "__Hmm? Oh__…__ it__'__s you.__"__ I heard Shadow mutter. __"__Why are you here?__"__ He questioned._

_ I looked to Abraham__'__s office; __"__My dad is talking to Abraham. He didn__'__t want to leave me alone for a long period of time.__"_

_ His slipped his hand to his hip and shifted his weight to one of his legs. __"__Last time he left you alone, you almost died.__"_

_ I whined softly, __"__He won__'__t stop bringing it up whenever I ask for something involving the outdoors, or being left alone.__"_

_ He stared at me for a while. __"__Why are you so curious about the outside world? He is right, about it being dangerous for you.__"_

_ "__All I__'__ve seen is the inside of my home. He never let me go out and play. I might as well be in a cage, that__'__s all that home is to me. The thought of exploring outside, it lets me break free of that cage. I don__'__t want to be limited, because someone said I couldn__'__t do it. I don__'__t want my own limitations to stop me either. I just want to be free to explore and do as I please.__"__ I poured my inner feelings out to him._

_ "__Unfortunately, kid, that will never happen. No matter how much you wish it to be different, you will always have something blocking your path to your desires.__"__ He scoffed then walked away. I felt _hurt_._

_ I sighed softly, stretching in the early morning light. I looked outside; the trees were a lush, rich green. Summer had finally arrived. The fall that had just passed, I had turned eighteen, and had been bothering my father how I was now an adult and could do whatever I wanted, including outside. Today, I planned to show him how independent and strong I could be. _

_ I grabbed my phone and wallet as I usually did and headed out into the woods. I was lucky that he was out this morning so he could not get in my way. Once I had taken my first step outside, I squinted, finding the sunlight harsher now that I was directly in it. Letting a few minutes go by to let my eyes adjust, I took in deep breaths of fresh air. A bee buzzed by, searching for flowers. Eventually, with slight haste due to the excitement, I slipped into the woods, digging myself deeper into the maze as time ticked onward. _

_ There was a small clearing, trees surrounding it all. It was lit well enough to see everything perfectly, yet it held a certain darkness to it. A couple of Mobians, wolves, were just on the outskirts of the trees. They had clothing on and easily walked on two legs. _I don't think I have seen Mobians like these before. I wonder if they are anything like Shadow…_ They had spotted me, and begun to come towards me; my body said to flee, and so I did. While I was running, I heard something off in the distance. I looked in front of me for a moment; a section of vines sloped down along the ground suspiciously. I slowly walked around the vines, towards where I had heard the sounds. Once I had gotten closer to the source, I could tell that they were voices of people roughly around my age. I soon found them, perceiving the fear and worry on their faces. I had grown uneasy myself from them. _

_ "__Look, another one. Another person.__"__ A girl whispered; something about her was off making her seem strange to me, as to what made her strange, I was not sure._

_ A puzzled frown formed along my brow. __"__What__'__s going on?__"__ I hesitantly asked, wondering I was even in the position to know, let alone question. _

_ "__Something bad- very bad. I see it, I see it.__"__ She spoke almost hysterical._

_I glanced to the other kids, and they just shrugged. One of them came forward and spoke, __"__She seems to be able to see the future.__"__ He clicked his tongue then swirled a finger around his temple, physically saying that she was __"__coo coo__"__._

_ I just sighed and shook my head, stepping back, spinning on my heel. Having completely disregarded the fact that there were those suspicious vines not too far from me, I had walked right into them. My foot slipped out from under me along with what little ground there had been. My tailbone had slammed against the rough surface of dirt and rock. A few screams were heard as the other teens were dragged down with me._

_ "__Worse is to come, worse is to come, be weary of those in black, those in black.__"__ The wild girl chanted._

_ "__Oh my god, would someone just shut her up already!__"__ Her voice was whiney. A boy in the group just shrugged it off._

_ "__Why did you all come into the woods, here more specifically?__"__ I asked them all._

_ "__None of us really know, we all just felt__…__ drawn here.__"__ The same male that shrugged off the loony stated. _

_ "__Fate, fate, fate.__"__ The girl breathed in, shaking slightly, her eyes wide and staring to the sky._

_ "__Please tell me this one took her medication and she will be okay soon.__"__ The youngest female asked. She seemed docile. _

_ Some dirt from above fell and dusted my hair. Looking up, I counted five people dressed in black. One female, the rest were male. A dagger made of fear struck my heart, piercing it from one end to the other. __"__I don__'__t think our schizophrenic friend is crazy anymore__…"__ The others looked up, clearly seeing what I was. _

_ One of the men tossed a net over us. It was large enough to encase all of us at one. He tightened up the net, making it more difficult for us to escape. Two of the five slid down the side of the hole to us and brought it upon themselves to tie us up well so we could not escape. The ones up top helped the others from their group to get us up the hole. Each member took one of us; however, the largest male had ended up taking two, since there were six of us, and five of them. Three females and two males. _Come to think of it, that young male hasn't said a word yet.

_ We were tossed inside a spacious van, with an odd back area. There were seats all around that could fold down, or you could have them up. We were released once we had all been settled down. They left us in there. The young male tried the door; however, it was child-locked. I grumbled lowly._

_ "__If they bang the seats down on us death is certain. We will die, we will die, we will die.__"__ The strange one cried. Her words stuck a second dagger of fear straight through me. _

For a moment, a twist between reality and the pieces of my mind melded into one. That dream I had, it was becoming clearer, my mind speeding though the sections of it until it reached the end of my dream, the portion I, at the time, could not recall.

_ "__We can__'__t find anything.__"__ The gruff, large man called back to the others of his group. _

_ "__Fine. We are almost there anyway, as long as they are kept __**pure**__, there shouldn__'__t be an issue.__"__ The girl spoke. I managed to catch a glimpse of her realizing that one of her eyes had a large bruise around it. Slight swelling was also occurring locally. _

_ The man nodded and closed up the door on us. They continued to drive us to our destination. The word __"__pure__"__ kept popping up in my head. I wanted to know what it meant, and I more desperately wanted to ignore it, pretend I never heard. No one in this van was talking to one another. Even the crazy one had shut up, but her eyes were dull, filled with a terrible knowledge. In that moment, I was partially glad that I could not see what she sees, and I wished to know even more so I could perhaps prevent what was to come._

_ I hugged my knees to my torso; my thoughts began to take over my surroundings._ Come on Dad, did you manage to teach me anything useful over the years? _I questioned myself. _You probably didn't, did you? You never wanted me to follow anything in your footsteps. You were so busy trying to protect me from everything, including you, that I never learned anything about life, how to protect myself. Now, when I need those odd skills you probably have, I'm lacking, because of you. _I sighed a bit._ Perhaps I'm being too harsh…

_ The van slowed to a stop. The men came back, grabbed the neatest person, and put heavy-duty zip-ties around their wrists. Before they could grab me, I offered my wrists to them, clenching my fists, having them palm down to the ground, side by side. I had remembered watching an instructor at GUN once telling the soldiers how to offer their hands to an enemy so that they could better escape the restraints. The male accepted them as they were and had done the same to me as the one before. The ushered me along with the others; they brought us into an old gothic, satanic looking building that was beginning to crumble away._

_ A satanic looking pentagram had been drawn out on the floor; other ritualistic symbols had been placed throughout the room. Everything had been prepared for our coming. Terror was on each face of us children. We were all seated in special sections of the symbol. I just so happened to end up being place in the middle. I glanced all around; cloaked people surrounded us, their hoods hid their identities. I positioned my hands so that I could easily slip out of the zip-tie when I needed to. _

_ A chanting began among them, I could not tell what they were saying sue to it being of a different language. The air changed, and almost all the light in the room was stolen. A dark presence mustered among us six in and around the symbol. In every direction shrill screams poured out of each teen except for I. Startled, and afraid, I started to slip off my zip-tie. In the process, right before my eyes, each one of them spontaneously combusted into red and orange flames, their bodies being incinerated; however the shell of their being somehow still held against the demonic fire, allowing their human forms to be seen as a silhouette. The smell of burning flesh and hair was horrid. _

_ The goop of a demon emerged before me from the floor. I slipped my hands out of the extra loose zip-tie and kicked the floor to push myself backwards away from the horrid creature. I was just in time, if I had of been a moment too late it would have grabbed hold of me. My body vibrated with horror. I tried to stand but ended up tripping and falling onto my butt. The half-formed goo of the demon slipped around my leg. For a moment in time, everything seemed to be at a stand still; that moment _**it **_touched me, I was _**connected**_ to it. There was a surge of power, both from the demon and from my own body. _

_ "__You will not take this body!__"__ I cried out, my emotions overflowing and spilling out all at once. With the sudden burst of emotion, the power coming from me surged, a bright light brilliantly emitted from my being. A lack of energy quickly ensued, holding me in its grasp firmly. Darkness came, the unknown following._

_ I opened my eyes to soldiers._


	10. Chapter Ten

Coming back to reality, I found myself half laying on the ground and half leaning on the motor cycle. _Really bad timing to have flashbacks Cat. Even if they end up helping you._ I told myself, pulling myself to my feet. Screams filled the air, my head snapping up in response, ears perked up to the sky. _Shit!_

"Shadow!?" I called out for him, running towards the crumbling building ahead of me. He came into sight and glanced over at me. I sighed in relief.

"I can't get in. There is a magical seal all around the building. The Commander never mentioned anything about this." He growled lowly.

"Those screams mean we are too late. We should have knocked them off their course and took the kids! We shouldn't have followed them here!" I was upset with how things were playing out.

"Even if we ran them off the road, they could have crashed and killed those kids. They could have shot them. We don't know what they would have done." He continued to investigate the magical barrier.

I focused and used my powers to create an opening through the barrier and into the building. I grabbed onto his wrist and pulled him through, cautiously keeping quiet. I led us down the stairs to where the ritual was taking place. We were just in time to witness the same demonic goop I once had laid eyes upon grab hold of a human being; it twisted and formed with the body, devouring it, taking its shape. The biological goo slipped in through the mouth as they had screamed, it went for their eyes next, crawling in through the smallest of cervices. The ears were subjugated as well. Soon there was nothing left of whom it once had been, and there was now a fully-fledged demon. Dark wings that matched the black of the night spread from his back, matching horns sprouted all along the sides of his skull. His skin was a maroon colour, he lacked any hair, and his eyes were a soulless black.

My leg felt as if it were on fire, where he had once grabbed me, two years ago. A loud snort came from him, a cloud of demonic smoke slipped from his slits for nostrils. One of the cloaked members in the room had stepped forward only to kneel down on one knee, arms out to either side of their body. The other cloaked ones follow suit, showing their respect. The burning in my leg increased, my lips pursed together.

"Fools." The demon spoke, his voice doubled up, his dark and deep. With a wave of his hand the cloaked humans stirred, only to later be seized up; wisps of their life force was drawn out of them and turned from a smoky white to a devil red. The demon devoured their life, I could sense his power becoming stronger, more placed in this world.

The burning caused my vision to blur. I fell to one of my knees; I pulled up my pant leg to discover a burn mark of a hand imprinted into me, my quills singed. I noticed a ripple of movement, a sudden connection to the demon spiralled through me, tugging at my mind, my body, my soul.

_ Out!_ I cried. I instantly reacted, without much thought, and slipped my knife out of its sheath. With one swift movement, I sliced off the flesh of my leg that had bonded with his so long ago. Directly after, Shadow's reaction time being a hint too late for him, his hand had grasped my wrist tightly, his other hand prying my knife out of my clutch.

"What the _fuck_ Cat?!" He growled through a low whisper.

"I'll explain_ later_, not _now_!" I hissed under my breath.

The flesh that I had cut from my leg flailed, twitching in such a way that it wormed its way over to the demon. A twisted smirk formed on his face as the flesh latched onto him and formed into his being, his new body. He cooed, as fangs slipped beyond his lips.

"Come out, come out, wherever you are. My little vessel that slipped away. I can smell you." He breathed in deeply.

I growled lowly, forcing my knife from Shadow, back into my hand; slowly showing myself, blood soaking the rim of my sock and shoe. Shadow watched, his expression slightly confused at first, until a sense of realization washed over him. He seemed to understand what had been going through my mind on the bike, with my flesh.

"You're the one they never found… you're his daughter." He slipped next to me, facing the creature.

"I guess so." I got in a fighting stance.

"Now isn't that nice," the demon scoffed, "Watch as the world burns." He called out, disappearing directly after.

"Where is he going?" Shadow asked me, believing I had the answers.

"I don't know. After I was touched, I woke up at GUN. I don't know why, or how, but I did." I sighed. "Well… we really fucked this one up huh?"

Shadow checked the pulses of the humans, and then took a few pictures with his multi-purpose communicator. He nodded in response and grabbed my hand. "We will fix it. Even if it means getting Faker and his friends involved, who I'm sure, by now, they already are." He reassured me, "Chaos Control!" We were back at GUN, in Abraham's office.

He peered up, "Hmm? Please tell me it went well."

Shadow shook his head and tossed his communicator in front of him. I tensed up, "The demon was unleashed. He is now roaming freely." I breathed out, not wanting to admit it.

He sighed, rubbing his hands into his face, his expression turning distraught. "What happened? How did my two best agents let this happen?" Dread was carried in each word.

"I ended up having badly timed flashbacks… I'm the child you couldn't find two years ago involving this same incident." I muttered.

"I couldn't get into the building due to a barrier I was not able to break. Before that I didn't want to risk running them off the road, just in case they got killed." Shadow grumbled.

For once, the Commander was speechless for a fair amount of time. When he did speak, all he said was, "You're really the daughter of him? He died a year ago." He thought for a moment, "Why are you not human now?"

I shrugged, "Just because I remember, it doesn't mean I have all the answers. Before I was born here, I was created on ARK, so explain that one to me." I muttered. "It's not important now. That creature is."

He nodded, "I know. I'll send out the troops." and he did just that.

"Come, let's go get your Faker." I grabbed onto Shadow's hand.

Despite the small growl of protest, he Chaos Controlled to his home. "Faker!" He yelled out, his tone immediately dark and deadly.

A blue streak zipped down the stairs, stopping in front of Shadow. "What's up Shadow?" He was in one of his signature poses. "Hmm? Hi, I'm Sonic, who are you?" Sonic stared at me.

"Cat. We are here because a demon was set free on the world. A powerful one." I jumped right to the point. Time was of the essence.

"A demon you say? Hey Tails!" He zipped off into another room of the house in which we could not here him.

"I hate him." Shadow grumbled.

I kissed his cheek, "You're just gonna have to be a big boy and deal with it."

He glared at me in response. "I'm not a child." His voice was strict.

"If you say so." I toyed.

The whole gang showed up: Sonic, Tails, Amy, even Knuckles. "Where is this demon?" Knuckles asked, punching one of his fists into his opposite hand.

"We don't know." I replied. "If I were him though, I would be collecting as many human souls as I could to gain in strength and power, so his form becomes more in tune with ours."

"That's not good. We better hurry then!" Sonic dashed out the door, Amy chasing after him, calling for him to wait.

"I'll try to see if I can find anything." Tail pulled out a device and began using it.

"I'll watch over the Master Emerald and insure that he doesn't get his filthy hands on it." He took off out the door.

I grumbled, "Common Shadow." He nodded and left the building with me. We began the search for the creature.

"Do you see anything yet?" I asked Shadow. We were on the top of the highest skyscraper we would find in one of the human cities. I glanced back at him.

"No… Wait, that there." He motioned, taking a step forward.

I walked over next to him, peering into the distance. Faint red wisps of human souls were fluttering to a centralized location over the city. "That must be where he is. We need to stop him, before he gains anymore power."

I spread my vampire wings and grabbed a hold of Shadow. Ensuring I had a tight grip on him, I started flying us over to the location. "I'm contacting the others." He called them on his communicator. Their faces popped up on his small screen.

"Did you find anything?" Sonic asked urgently.

"He is in Station Square. We are approaching now." Shadow stated. The blue blur disappeared off the screen.

"We are on the way!" Tails gave a thumb up before disconnecting from the call. Shadow disconnected as well.

I shuddered as we continued to get closer. I could sense the demonic power radiating off him. My senses all of a sudden caught something heading towards us. I saw a glint of something for a moment and swayed off to the side in the nick of time for the object to miss. With a low growl, the determination to **slaughter** started to overtake me. I took a breath and refocused, turning my determination towards the true enemy; _I will _destroy _him._

A few more projectiles flew at us, each one I dodged until our destination had been reached. With certain carefulness, I set Shadow down on his feet, catching the next projectile. It was a small horn-like needle. I heard clapping as I set my feet on the ground, slipping away my wings.

"Well done on getting this far. Too bad it will all be in vain. None of your friends, not even you, shall stop me." The demon spoke with ill intentions. His from was becoming more grotesque and large with each soul he devoured. Hair had begun growing on him, more horns protruded from his skin in several areas. His teeth were a sharp, menacing mess of fangs.

Sonic suddenly appeared next to Shadow along with a rush of wind. A low rumble of a plane- the Tornado- could be heard off in the distance as it approached. I smirked at this; I also spotted a few G.U.N. helicopters and land vehicles approaching from both above and below.

The demon laughed, "Even if you have me surrounded, this is not enough." Amusement had consumed his demeanour.

"Why don't we find out for sure then?" Sonic charged at the demon, Shadow and I following suit.

With a snap of his fingers, the demon sent a burst of power through the air, sending us flying backwards. Shadow flipped and burrowed his feet into the building, stopping him from flying over the end. I managed to hold onto the rim of the building, stopping myself from falling. Sonic had been blown off completely. Tail nose-dived, caught him on the top base of the plane, and levelled out quickly, before he had hit the ground. I sighed softly and pulled myself up onto the solid roof of the skyscraper.

With suddenness, the creature flew up into the air creating a powerful gust of wind, threatening to blow us over once more. Without another wasted moment, he darted off into the distance; a G.U.N. helicopter pursued him, firing at him. Each bullet missed, however he slowed down and crashed himself into it. He grabbed hold of the body of the helicopter and forced it to smash into a building, an explosion quickly following, sending debris of the helicopter, and parts of the building in all directions.

"Shadow!" Sonic called out.

Shadow looked over, and nodded, jumping off the building and landing on the tornado. I once again spread my wings and pushed myself into the air. Thrusting myself forward, I slipped up next to the Tornado, ensuring I did not get too close. We pursued him, the Tornado going as fast as it could, and I remained along side it the entire time. I glanced at Sonic and Shadow a few time.

"Hey! Blue one! Shadow!" I called to them, "I hope you both have the other six Emeralds. Here!" I tossed my red Chaos Emerald to them. Shadow skilfully caught it.

"Thanks!" Sonic pulled out the few he had, Shadow pulled out his as well.

"You're going to need all the power you can get." I muttered, my words being lost in the wind.

My eyes narrowed upon our target. I saw a green floating Island past his figure. _Angel Island. Is he going for the Master Emerald?_ I questioned myself as panic settled in my bones. I glanced over to the crew; each one of them had concern evident on their faces. I looked forward just in time to see the creature dive down through the trees. I growled and sped up; within moments, I had reached the island and dived down where I last had seen him. Glancing around I was unable to spot him.

"Stop right there!" I heard Knuckles call out. I could only assume he was talking to the demon.

I darted towards his voice, finding myself in a clearing, the Master Emerald on its rightful pedestal. The demon had approached Knuckles; in turn, Knuckles had lunged at him, throwing his fist towards him. I rushed towards the two, catching the demon's arm before he had the chance to slap knuckles away as if he were a fly. Knuckles fist hit him hard; I held onto the demons arm, slipped my knife from my side, and stabbed between the flesh of his arm and shoulder. I drug my knife down and in a circle, ripping his arm off. I turned, his arm instantaneously growing back, lashing out at me. Just before it could strike my chest, he was blown back into a surrounding tree, Shadow now standing where the creature once had been, small spots of blood staining the grass. The arm that had been torn off, and still grasped firmly in my hands slowly turned into ash.

Sonic dashed beside us, "Looks like we are going to need to do something either than try to destroy him." Sonic rubbed his nose for a moment.

"Send him back to where he came from, or erase him from existence. Sound good?" I asked.

Shadow nodded, tossing the emeralds he had into air, Sonic doing the same. They spun around us, their energy filling us. We all closed our eyes, accepting them, allowing ourselves to be transformed into our super forms. Sonic glowed with gold, his eyes a dark red colour; Shadow a white-gold, his eyes remaining the same along with his stripes. I turned approximately the same colour as Shadow, my wings being replaced with a mist that glowed red.

The demon pulled himself from the foliage, a low rumble of anger exploded from his chest. Sonic and Shadow darted towards him first, attacking him from multiple sides, trying to keep him busy. I looked to Tails, wondering what sort of gadgets he happened to have on him.

"Fox, happen to have anything that could rip open time and space and create a portal?" I asked him.

"Working on it!" He called back, landing his plane.

I joined in the fight, interjecting my attacks when I knew it was safe, but let Shadow and Sonic do most of the work. They had a rhythm, and I was unsure how to fit into it, without causing the beat to fall out of place. All of a sudden, Sonic was kicked into the ground; Shadow was caught off guard and was punched back with such a force it sent him through a few trees; this left me. I dashed towards him, ready to land a blow, and suddenly he moved out of the way faster than my attack could reach him. Instead, a solid blow to my gut caused me to topple to the ground, my body threatening to vomit, my air cut off from my lungs for a brief moment.

I forced myself to my knees, one hand to my gut, the other gripping the grass. I searched for our foe, finding him knocking back Knuckles, badly damaging him once more. The demon grabbed the Master Emerald, I heard a faint chant of a few words, the Master Emerald began to darken, a black mist forming in its center, tainting it. A wave of red energy bursts came from the Emerald, the sky turned dark, a miasma of unnatural clouds hanged over the world. A crimson glow from the land in the distance as well as the ocean started; it split the world open, different species of demons poured through by the thousands. I started to feel weak; the Chaos energy within me was being drained. I looked to my arms, my glowing fur turned back into its regular tan coloured state. I looked over at Sonic who was pulling himself out of the ground; his quills turned blue. I then peered at Shadow, his quills now black; he was pushing some tree branches off him.

A grim feeling took hold for a moment, but then I noticed Knuckles' figure crawling up behind from the Demon. With a swift punch to the Master Emerald, it shattered, the dark mist pouring out and dissipating into the air as the emerald shards shot across Mobius. The portal the multitudes of monsters were climbing out of sealed up, however the toxic clouds still remained. The demon was about to turn his attention to Knuckles, but I tossed one of my throwing knives at him, sticking him right where a human heart would be. Now, his attention was on me.

"Come get the one who delayed you return." My voice was calm, my words held a chill. He removed the knife from his chest and let it drop to the ground, the tip of the blade sinking into the soft dirt. I flew towards him with great speed.

The demon smirked, flying at me as well. We clashed, slicing at one another with everything we had in the sky. Sonic and Shadow tossed one another into the sky, using one another's bodies as tools to stay off the ground to occasionally swipe at and distract the demon. Once the demon had enough of their annoyance, he flew up high enough so that they were unable to reach. I however, flew up with him, not letting him escape.

Once he had stopped to hover, I kept going, trying to land a blow on him; he twisted in the sky and grabbed hold of my wing, dragging me down with him. A loud snap and an excruciating pain burned from my wing, spreading throughout my body. I cried out a little, trying to get free of his grasp, trying to fly once more. I was unable to move my wing.

_ It__'__s broken! He broke my wing!_ My thoughts echoed in my head with anger. I twisted my body to see what we were falling to. The ocean roared below; _I can__'__t swim well! I__'__ll drown if I landing the water!_

I grabbed a hold of the demon, refusing to let my grip slip. We swooped down, just above the ocean; a large wave temporarily consumed us, before he flew out the other side of it. He tried to shake me off; however, I only gripped tighter. One of my hands slipped so I pulled a separate, smaller knife out and swung myself at his body and dug my knife into the back of his shoulder to hold on. He grunted and flew back towards the island, only this time he slammed my into the rocks just below the solid land, his hand wrapped tightly around my neck. As he choked me, he used his free hand to pull out my knife and stabbed it into my wing, right where the break in the bone had been created.

He laughed as my measly grunts of pain entertained him. "I could do this all day. Watching all of you suffer as this world is transformed into our new, twisted home." He tightened his grip on my neck.

I fought to breathe, my vision begging to become blurry from the lack of oxygen. I managed to catch a glimpse of the Tornado. A few bullet shot towards us with precision, hitting the demon, and only him, causing his grip to loosen. I fell, coughing, breathing once more, the air spinning me due to my damaged wing. Arms wrapped around me, breaking my fall. I dizzily looked at them, discovering they were Sonic's, and that we were firmly planted on the Tornado.

Tails flew back to the island, swooping close to the ground; Sonic hopped to the ground, setting me down once we were on solid ground. I inspected my wing and pulled out the knife, blood squirting out for a brief moment. I wiped the blade against my shirt then slipped it back into its holster. I took in a deep breath and used my multitude of powers to fix, and heal my wing completely.

"Are you okay?" Shadow was terribly concerned for my well-being.

I gave him a weak smile as he helped me to my feet, "I've been better…" I looked for our enemy, setting my sights on him high above us. I slipped off my inhibitor rings, letting massive amounts of raw Chaos energy escape me, and handed them to Shadow. "Take care of these for me."

"Cat." Saying my name was all he needed, I understood how he felt, what he wanted.

I just ruffled the quills on his head for a moment before spiralling into the sky, reaching the level in which our enemy had taken refuge. He smirked, ready for more action; he held his arm straight out, muttering a few demonic words. I kept my guard up, readying myself for what was coming. A red light formed vertically where is hand was, a spear forming for him. He grasped it with a hand then extended the point towards me. A moment later, he lunged for my torso. I dodged and began trying to kick, punch, or even tackle him; his summoned spear blocked all of it.

Before I knew it, he had lured me out over the wide-open ocean, Angel Island hovering a couple thousand yards off in the distance. The defensive and offensive roles switched between us multiple times, dragging on into a bloody-red sunset. My body was weakening, my energy was running low, and my breathing had turned into tired pants. I had decided that it was time to end this, despite wanting to avoid this method of destruction. The next time he had lunged his spear towards me, I let it stab through the middle of my chest. The demon smiled wickedly, believing he had won. I grabbed onto him coughing up blood.

"Chaos Obsidian." I called, using the last of my power.

The creatures smile disappeared, as his flesh turned into a glass-like crystal. His arms and legs were the first to go, then to his torso, his wings and head followed after. We fell towards the ocean once his wings had seized up. The moment after the crystal had taken his body, it had shattered into dust, wiping him from all of existence. The staff began to crystallize. I closed my eyes, too weak to do anything.

_ I looked around, the field that Shadow and I had discovered, the one that appeared from a rip in time-space, was my surroundings. I spun around, the Professor and Maria stood there, seemingly waiting. I was taken aback from this, wondering what they were doing there, and then remembering that they were dead._

_ "__My child, we have been watching over you, as well as Shadow.__"__ The professor spoke softly._

_ "__Thank you for trying to protect the world, along with everyone on it.__"__ Maria smiled softly._

_ "__When that demon touched you, we used what little essence we had left in that world to transport you, and change you back to your original form. We never meant for you to lose your memory. We__'__re sorry, we just wanted to protect you.__"__ The professo explained his words remained gentle and soothing._

_ "__Thank you__…__ for protecting me__…__ but why am I here, now?__"__ I asked them._

_ "__We cannot stop the crystal that you made from consuming you; however, since you are immortal, not even you have the capabilities of destroying yourself. We are keeping your body safe, along with your spirit, and perhaps that connection has brought you here, even if it is for a short time.__"__ He stated._

_ I hugged him tightly as I started to feel their presence fade, the visuals blurring out of sight._

I looked to the sky, my body stiff; a small smile formed on my lips. The crystal washed over my eyesight, it being the last thing I could see before the darkness took over.

The water cradled Cathy's body that was encapsulated in crystal. It swept her along the stormy currents until the waves nestled her safely in a dark, air-pocketed cave. The cave glowed blue due to the water. Two soft blue glowing mushrooms illuminated her crystal stasis keeping her company as she slept. The spear that had pierced her body shattered into dust. The crystal healed her wounds and built her strength, but she remained, trapped, and comatose.

_End_


End file.
